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The end of a loag drive in golf 

(6ee page ISl 



> 



THE WOMAN'S 
BOOK OF SPORTS 

A PRACTICAL GUIDE 
TO PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 
AND OUTDOOR RECREATION 



BY 

J. PARMLY PARET 




ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 
TAKEN B Y THE A UTHOR 



NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1901 



COPIIUOHT, 1901 

bt d. afpleton and company 

A^ rights rtterved 



CONTENTS 

CHAFTSB PAOI 

Introduction 1 

l — ^a bx7dihentabt lesson in golf .... 6 

II.— Lawn-tennis fob beqinnebs 25 

III.— How to sail a catboat 48 

IV. — The useful abt of swimmino 58 

v.— The use and abuse of bicycling .... 76 

VJ.— Basketball fob toung women 87 

VII.— Phtsical exebcisb and development . . . 102 

VIIL— Men's spobts fbom a woman's viewpoint . . 121 

Football 128 

Baseball 188 

Tacht-bacing 140 

Bowing 150 

Athletics 157 

• • « 

m 



LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS 

VAOIKO 

The end of a long drive in golf .... FrmtUpUee 

Addressing a golf ball before the drive .... 6 

The full swing for driver or brassey .... 10 

The weak finish of a beginner's drive .... 14 

Patting on the green 18 

Lofting out of a bad hazard 22 

The start of the forehand stroke in lawn-tennis . . 28 

The end of the forehand stroke 80 

The start of the backhand stroke 84 

The end of the backhand stroke 86 

A fast overhand service 40 

Sailing a catboat close-hauled 46 

The proper way to handle a boat when it blows . . 60 

The dangerous kind of sailing 54 

The correct costume for swimming 68 

The mistake that most women make in mounting a bicycle 80 

Touring over picturesque country roads .... 84 

The sails of a racing yacht 147 

T 



THE WOMAN^S BOOK OP SPORTS 



INTRODUOnON 

The American young woman of tlie twen- 
tietli century counts outdoor sports as mucli 
among her accomplislmients as slie does Frencli 
or higher mathematics. Her brother has built 
up his constitution by the athletic training he 
underwent at college, and she has no wish to 
suffer by physical comparison. Nearly every 
woman's college has recognized the tendency of 
the times by adding a course in physical devel- 
opment to its curriculum, the director of which 
holds an established position as important as 
that of the professor of astronomy — ^and (speak- 
ing strictly in confidence now) far more useful. 

Nor does the love for outdoor sports cease 

when the college days are over, for young 

women of our leisure classes find the best 

method of recreation in golf, tennis, bicycling, 

1 



2 THE WOMANTS BOOK OF SPORTS 

and tlie water sports. As a relaxation after 
the round of heated ballrooms and the nerv- 
ous rush and hurry of the social season — ^as 
a sort of antidote for excessive gaiety — ^no 
change can offer more relief than healthy ex- 
ercise in the open air. 

For brain-workers^ too, those who live un- 
der a mental strain of any kind, nothing can 
be more beneficial "All work and no play 
make Jack a dull boy," and Jill suffers just as 
much from the same monotony. It needs only 
a little time each day in the open air, with 
enough exertion to make one breathe deeply, 
to compensate for many hours of brain-work, 
for fresh air lends new vigor to the mind and 
increases its capacity for mental effort. 

There are few good books of instruction in 
sports for women, and the need of them is 
urgent. Men have their literature galore on 
the subject, but sports among American women 
are so new that their devotees have been chiefly 
confined to books written for their brothers, or 
to learning their games direct from paid in- 
structors. Now, women's faults are not always 



INTRODUOnON g 

men's faults, and one need only read tlie books 
written for men to appreciate tlie necessity for 
just sucli a volume as this. 

It lias been the aim of the author to make 
the instruction in this book as simple, as direct, 
as elementary as possible, for its lessons are in- 
tended for the beginner in sports. The more 
advanced students of any game must go to the 
professionals or expert amateur coaches to im- 
prove their skill. While it is the practical 
rather than the theoretical that has been aimed 
at, it has seemed to the writer above all im- 
portant to explain the reason for everything 
asked. K we know why we should do any- 
thing, it seems y«y mud e^ier to do it 

The relative value of precept and example 
has been dwelt upon in many proverbs, and one 
wise old ancient declared truly that " men trust 
rather to their eyes than to their ears." One 
might describe a dozen times the correct posi- 
tion for any stroke and produce less effect on 
a beginner's mind than the demonstration of a 
single example that the eye can grasp. For 
this reason, an effort has been made here to 



4 THB WOMAirS BOOK OF SPORTS 

illustrate all of the cardinal points dwelt upon 
by reproducing photographs of women taken 
while actually doing the thing described* With 
the help of these illustrations the text should 
be doubly infltructive. 

While women seldom if ever take part in 
baseball, football, or athletic games, or in yacht- 
ing or rowing races, they are often among the 
most enthusiastic spectators at such sports, even 
if they are sometimes lost in baffling technicali- 
ties* For those who would know why the man 
they are watching kicks the ball, or runs the 
bases, or sets a spinnaker, or does any one of the 
countless other things that happen during the 
contest, a brief explanation of the inward work- 
ings of men's sports is added. A half-hour's 
reading of this chapter may save the humilia- 
tion of technical ignorance. 

Should this book be the means of adding, 
though ever so slightly, to the ever-increasing 
interest in outdoor sports among women, the 
author will feel that he has been fully repaid 
for his labor* J P P 

Nxw ToBK, Apnlf 1901. 



A RUDIMENTARY LESSON IN GOLF 

Even in these advanced days of many pro- 
fessionals, a large proportion of those who 
learn to play golf do not have the advantage 
of expert coaching; and particularly among 
women who pick up the game themselves 
there is a wof ul lack of the ingredients of 
good form which are so essential to any de- 
gree of skill 

Hosts of women who want to learn the 
game do not have access to the services of a 
professional or expert amateur coax^h, while 
many others who might, do not take advantage 
of such coaching for one reason or another — 
economy, modesty, or indifference. Be the 
cause what it may, the result is that we see far 
too many women on the links who have all 
the natural requirements for playing the game, 



6 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OP SPORTS 

yet who wield their clubs so awkwardly that 
it does not require a second glance to show 
any initiated observer the reason for their 
shortcomings. 

As with most other games, in golf every- 
thing depends upon beginning in the right 
path. It is too late for a beginner to wait 
until she has learned to hit the ball truly be- 
fore she learns the first principles of good 
form, for then she will have acquired the bad 
style that is so difficult to shake off, and which 
stands forever in the way of progress at the 
game. Just as surely as an ounce of preven- 
tion is better than a pound of cure, a little 
advice at the beginning will save many weary 
hours of correction after the bad habits have 
been allowed to grow. 

In no other sport is good form in the 
stroke so imperative, and perhaps in no other 
is it more often neglected. A few words, then, 
from one who has had to learn the game him- 
self, and who has also taught women the first 
rudiments of good form enough to appreciate 
their chief shortcomings, may prove the ounce 



AcUiessing a g^df ball before the drive 



GOLF 7 

of preventioiL If they are followed closely, 
they may save the weary hours of correction 
later on. 

Firsl^ as to the selection of clubs, let me 
say that aside from the question of good heads 
and good shafts (for both of which a beginner 
must depend on expert inspection) the most 
important consideration is that of length, and 
this depends entirely upon the height and the 
length of the arms of the prospective player. 
A club that is too long or too short often has 
much to do with a beginner's poor strokes, and 
too much care can not be given to the selection 
of those with shafts of proper length. 

The position for all strokes with the wood- 
en clubs should be erect, with one leg straight 
under the body, heel to the ground and toe 
pointed slightly in, and the shoulders bent a 
little forward from the hips. The level of the 
grip should be slightly below the hips and not 
more than four inches from the body. 

In selecting a driver or a brassey, then, 
place the head of the club so that it naturally 
rests flat on the ground, then step back, and. 



8 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

taking the proper position for the stroke^ see 
that the middle of the grip — ^not its shortest 
end, nor the extreme end of the shaft — ^reaches 
to the position in wHch your hands should be 
in ^g . drive or . bLey ^ke. 

For the cleek, mid -iron, and lofter the 
shafts should be only an inch or two shorter, 
but the niblick and approaching mashie should 
be still shorter in the shaft, for in using them 
the body is bent over more, the grip is shorter, 
and the swing less. The putter should be 
the shortest of all the clubs, for in using it 
properly the player bends down well over 
the balL 

The best time to practise in quiet and 
without the " gallery " 'which is usually so dis- 
ooneerti^g to . be^ner, fa in the morning ol 
some week-day when there are few other play- 
ers at the links. If a professional's services 
are to be had, he will give all the instruction 
that is necessary, but if the novice intends to 
learn the game alone, it is well to begin by 
hiring a caddie and practise first at driving 
from the tee. A half-dozen balls can be driven 



GOLF 9 

out one after another, and the caddie told to 
bring them all in again after the last has been 
played. 

A rubber tee is often useful for a beginner, 
as it always holds the ball at the same height 
from the ground, but when she becomes more 
skilful she will probably discard it for the 
same reason that she first used it, for then she 
wiU not always want the ball teed the same, 
the height depending on the natural slope of 
the ground before her and the hazards to be 
avoided. 

The freedom of the wrists is very impor- 
tant in all golf strokes, and that "waggle" 
which many good golfers go through before 
each stroke is not all done for effect ; it has a 
distinct use in limbering up the wrists. Upon 
th«r f«ed0M depends Lfh of the snap o^ . 
stroke, and consequently the distance the ball 
wiU travel. Constant swinging of a golf -club, 
a cane, or even a broom-handle, when not at 
the links, will do much to limber up the 
wrists. The hands should be placed close to- 
gether and held still in front of the hips, the 



10 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

stick being swang from side to side by the mo- 
tion of the wrists, not the arms. 

I have found that the fault with most poor 
strokes made by women lies in their improper 
position, or ^^ stance," as it is technically called. 
They always insist on standing too far ahead 
of the ball and too far away from it, the result 
being that they bend forward to hit the ball 
and strike it on top. To find the proper dis- 
tance, the club should first be laid with its 
head resting naturally on the gromid behind 
the ball — ^flatly, not with only its toe or its 
heel touching — and then the player should 
take her position so that the hands grasp the 
middle of the grip with J;he elbows close in to 
the sides, the body bent slightly forward from 
the hips, and the hands four inches in front of 
the body, just as in testing the length of a 
new club. 

To stand ahead of the ball or too close to 
it, in most cases, makes you top it, and a com- 
mon fault with women players is their tend- 
ency to top all their drives, and make the baU 
roU or bound along the ground instead of ris- 



The full swing for driver or btassey 



GOLF 11 

ing in the air. If they stand far back of the 
ball, they fear to pull it around off the course, 
but the fault Kes in their not turning the grip 
of the club in the hands until its head gives 
the direction truly. 

The ball should never be hit as the club 
is descending, but after the head has fuUy 
««=hed ft, LtoM ol its swing, or just .« tt 
begins to rise again ; the " stance " must be far 
enough behind the ball to insure this. 

The left foot should be slightly farther 
.w.y from the line of direction tl L right 
When this position is taken, the club should 
be grounded again back of the ball, and if the 
direction toward which its face points shows 
that the baU would take the wrong course, the 
shaft should be turned in the hands until the 
head points in the right direction. Then 
tighten the grip so that the club can not turn 
in the grasp when it is being swung, and after 
addressing the ball once or twice, with possi- 
bly a preliminary " waggle " or two to loosen 
the wrists, make the drive. I should advise 
beginners, however, not to let the habit of pre- 

2 



12 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

liminary motions grow on them, for they very 
often serve to throw off the stroke. 

The back-swing should begin with the fore- 
arms, then, gradually turning the body as the 
club is drawn back, the upper arms and 
shoulders should come into play, and finally 
the wrists, until the upper part of the body is 
turned away at right angles to the ball and 
the club has been carried back far behind the 
head — ^if possible behind the left shoulder. At 
the end of a fuU back-swing the club points al- 
most exactly in the direction the ball is to go. 

But in making this swing two things 
should be borne in mind : first, that the play- 
er's head should never be moved from its first 
position with the eyes fixed on the ball ; and, 
second, that the swing should be slow, steady, 
and in a true circle. To stiffen the wrists, and 
so cut off the swing when the club is only 
over the right shoulder, means to lose much of 
'the power and freedom in the stroke, and con- 
sequently to sacrifice both accuracy and dis- 
tance. 

When the club reaches the end of its back- 



GOLF 13 

swing it should not hesitate or stop there, for 
this also serves to throw off the stroke. It 
should start downward at once on the forward 
swing, with an even motion that should be 
quickly accelerated with the forearms, then the 
shoulders, gradually turning the body back to 
face the ball again, and finally, just before the 
club reaches its mark, the quick bending of 
the wrists that gives the snap to the drive. 

Nor should the stroke be cut off at once, 
after driving the ball, by checking the club 
too suddenly. The driver should be allowed 
to follow through as evenly as possible — ^that 
is, the body should continue the turn on 
around, as the baU is hit, until it faces nearly 
i. tie axection the ball u going, though ^th' 
out lifting the feet. The club should follow 
the ball until it reaches the fuU length of the 
extended arms, when the forearms bend and 
draw it gradually back of the left shoulder, 
and the wrists finally stop its swing by bring- 
ing it up behind the right shoulder with a 
short turn like the moulinet of a swordsman. 

After the ball has been hit, the head of the 



U THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

club should travel in the same direction as 
long as possible before the finish of the swing 
is aUowed to divert its forward motion. This 
insures the accuracy of direction and adds to 
the speed and distance of the balL 

Naturally, a golf-club swings on a pivot 
formed by the hands and wrists. If this pivot 
is stationary, the cluVs head will describe a 
perfect circle in the swing, but in a true drive 
the pivot moves forward as the club is passing 
the lowest point of its circle, which is thus 
elongated at the bottom. In this way the club 
travels straight ahead for a short distance just 
before and just after hitting the ball, and the 
wrists or pivot follow through in the swing 
parallel with the ground before they begin to 
bring the club upward over the shoulder. 

To increase the natural reach of the arms 
BB well as to add the player's weight to the 
power of the stroke, the body should also 
follow through, the weight being shifted at the 
bottom of the swing from the right foot to the 
left. The longer the club's head follows the 
direction of the ball the more certain will be 



The weak finish of a beginnei's drive 

^Jote the ititf poiitian, the (lattunecl thouldcn, and the club 
■lopped ova the left shoulder) 



GOLF 15 

the direction of the drive, the less the danger 
of slicing or pulling, and the greater the 
length. This method of following through 
with both the body and club is used on all 
luU sta>k«, when Ltanee i. needed, and ia 
one of the cardinal principles of good form in 
golf. 

Another vital point, that appKes to all 
other strokes as well as to driving and to 
brassey play, is to keep the eyes fixed on the 
ball until aftf&r it has left the ground — not 
until just before it is hit, or as it is leaving the 
tur^ but until it is well away from the club. 
A good way to insure this is invariably to 
watch if the club cuts the turf or hits the ball 
clean, before looking up to see the success of 
the stroke. Watching the ball in the air can 
not alter its directiof or imp^ve its length, 
while looking away, even a small fraction of 
a second before the stroke is completed, ruins 
many otherwise good strokes. 

A well-known professional golfer has sug- 
gested that many people top the ball because 
they look at the top of the ball while address- 



16 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

ing and striking it, and lie believes that it is 
mucli wiser to look at the back of the ball 
where it is to be hit, or at the ground just 
behind ball. This latter suggestion seems 
especially good for brassey strokes, or when 
a lofter or mashie is used to get over some 
hazard, for then the bottom of the club is ex- 
pected to cut slightly into the turf in order 
to get well imder the ball. 

In many ways the same instructions that 
apply to driving and brassey play are also 
useful for most other strokes. Once having 
got away a clean drive, the ball will probably 
lie on the fair green. Let us then consider 
the second stroke when no hazard threatens. 

K the ground is level in front and the 
putting-green within reach of an iron (about 
one hundred yards for a woman), a cleek or 
mid-iron is the proper club to use, and if the 
full length of the stroke is required, the same 
position and the same swing that were used 
for the drive are necessary, the same follow 
through and the same close watching of the 
ball until after it has left the club. 



GOLF 17 

If the ground slopes away rapidly before 
you, the "stance" should be slightly farther 
forward so that the ball will not be raised so 
much, and if the course rises gradually in 
front, one should stand a little farther back 
and get the club well under the ball to raise it 
over the higher ground. 

In each case — in fact, in every case — the 
grip should be adjusted in addressing the ball 
so that the angle of impact is in line with the 
direction you want the ball to follow. The 
swing, too, should always be parallel with this 
line; the slightest divergence to the left or 
right tends to pull or slice the ball off the 
proper course. 

Now, once within approaching distance, the 
stroke varies greatly, for then it all depends 
on the lie of the ball, the distance to the 
hole, and the character of the ground near 
the green. Let us presume level ground with 
a wide flat green to approach from a distance 
of fifty yards. If the ground is true before 
you and there is no hazard near the green, it 
is generally safe to risk running up the ball— 



1 



18 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

a play whicli is made with a half -arm swing 
from the cleek or mid-iron, the ball bounding 
along until it stops on the green, if the aim 
and force are accurate. 

Should a bunker or other obstruction inter- 
vene, however, or the ground be uneven and 
not likely to let the baU roll true, or if there 
should be any kind of a hazard beyond the 
hole that would punish an overapproach, it is 
wiser to pitch the ball on the green. For 
this stroke, which is played with a mashie or a 
lofter, one should stand well behind the ball, 
with the left foot a trifle farther bax;k from 
the line of direction, and striking well under it, 
even at the risk of taking up some of the turf 
with the ball, make it jump weH up into the 
air and fall so straight as to stop rolling almost 
at once. 

This method of pitching on the green is 
more difBcult to learn, but much more accu- 
rate and scientific when it has been mastered. 

» 

Many expert players use it entirely, even when 
the ground is perfectly level before them. 
They learn to chop the ball so sharply that it 



Putting on the g:reen 



GOLF 19 

gets a little back twist, wluch makes it drop 
dead where it falls on the green, and some of 
the best players approach a hole by this play 
with marvelous accuracy. 

Once on the green, the putter, of course, is 
the only club to be used, but there is less 
chance to show a beginner how to putt than 
to make any other stroke in golf. If she has 
played croquet it will come natural to her. 
Putting is simply a question of rolling the 
ball into the hole, just like hitting a stake in 
croquet; although a new element appears in 
golf, for distance as well as accuracy must be 
considered. If the ball misses the hole and 
roUs on some dietance, it wfll perhaps be no 
nearer than before, and the stroke will have 
been wasted. The ball should be hit only 
hard enough to go a few inches beyond the 
hole — as little as possible — ^if it fails to go in, 
and thus give a sure chance to putt it down 
with the next stroke. 

A putter is always much shorter than any 
of the other clubs, and it is necessary to bend 
well over in using it. The left foot should be 



20 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

back of the right as in other strokes^ but a 
player should never stand around facing the 
hole and push the ball straight in front of her 
from between her feet, as some women play 
croquet A favorite position among expert 
players is to bend the right knee slightly and 
let the back of the right hand or forearm rest 
against it for support and ax^curacy. 

But it is really the hazards on the course 
that offer the widest range of play in golf, and 
were it not for them the strokes would offer 
too little variety for enjoyment. Let us sup- 
pose that the drive or one of the strokes 
through the fair green has landed your ball 
in a bunker-just a plain, ordinary, graas^or- 
ered bunker, with the usual ditch on the near 
side of it. Here the club may not be ground- 
ed, and the ball must be played from exactly 
where it lies. 

If it is so close to the sharp face of the 
obstruction that the chances of lofting it 
over from the ditch are not very good, it is 
wiser to turn around and play it back on the 
course. Ten yards more or less on the next 



GOLF 21 

stroke will not materially affect your chances 
for the hole, and it is better to lose these few 
yards and then get in a full stroke, if the hole 
is stiU some distance away, than to try to jump 
just over the hazard on the first stroke, for 
you may fail, and the ball roll back into 
trouble again. In such cases a mashie or a 
niblick is the best club, but a lof ter must gen- 
erally be used if you try to lift the ball over 
the bunker. 

When your ball comes to rest weU back of 
a bunker or other obstruction in the course, 
either after playing out from the hazard or at 
the end of the previous stroke, a lofter is almost 
always the best club. Standing well behind 
the baU and striking weU under it, give the 
full swing for distance and carry well over the 
hazard. To be cautious and jump just over the 
dangerous spot often lands the ball in the 
ditch Again, to the intense discomfiture of the 
player, for the penalties of such misplays are 
costly. 

Should the ground be rising back of the 
hazard, or the lie be a hanging one — ^that is. 



22 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

with more than the usual portion of the near 
side of the ball exposed to get the club under — 
it is often safe to use a mid-iron or even a cleek 
to cany the hazard and so get more distance. 

A sand bimker or trap bunker, which is 
generally put in the path of a rolling drive ihat 
might otherwise get as much distance as a fly- 
ing bail, is perhaps the most treacherous of all 
hazards to get out of. Here, everything de- 
pends on the lie. 

If the ball stands up so that it can be well 
hit, a lofter or mashie will generally lift it out of 
difficulty, but one should never strike too close 
or try to gain much distance ; it is wiser to 
scoop up a whole handful of sand and the ball 
with it, if it progresses only a few yards out of 
trouble, than to try to hit it too full and perhaps 
get still deeper into the "slough of despond." 
Loose sand stops a ball quickly, and it must 
always be lifted well away from either sand 
or mud to get free. 

If the ball rests in a deep depression, a nib- 
lick generally has to be called into service, but 
if it stands upon a little hillock of sand like a 



Loftiog out of a bad hazard 



GOLff 28 

natural tee^ it can often be hit with a full iron 
stroke as if out on the fair green. 

The use of the brassey is generally the last 
thing a woman learns in golf. She has a tee 
for driving, and the iron clubs cut well under 
the ball, but until she becomes expert in her 
play, she generally tops the ball badly with a 
brassey, and it simply bounds along a few 

bunker yawning open for poor strokes. 

Most beginners, however, men as weU as 
women, very much overdo the tise of the 
brassey. It should never be brought into play 
unless the hole is beyond the reach of au iron 
club, and not always then. If properly handled, 
an iron should advance the ball at least one 
hundred yards for a woman and half as much 
again for a man. Beginners, who have not yet 
learned to get the full length from their irons, 
often make the serious mistake of resorting to 
a brassey instead of keeping to the proper club 
and leamiQg to get the necessary length with 
that. 

Golfers who are over-anxious to make phe- 



24 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

nomenal distances with their strokes generally 
make haste slowly, for it is much more profit- 
able to keep the ball on the course and well 
out of the hazards, with only fair length, than 
to be getting constantly into trouble of one sort 
or another in the effort to make very long 
strokes. 

In the case of bunkers, as in other things 
with the beginner, once more an ounce of pre- 
vention is better than a pound of cure. A 
rather Irish Scotchman once remarked, with 
much truth, " If you keep out of the hazards, 
you won't have to get out of them.'' This is 
an excellent maxim and well worth keeping in 
mind always on the links. 



II 

LAWN-TENNIS FOR BEGINNERS 

Of all the amateur sports and pastimes in 
whicli the modem young woman indulges, no 
other requires so much physical exertion as 
lawn-tennis, and yet in moderation it is one 
of the very best forms of physical exercise. 
The fact that it is played almost exclusively 
outdoors and under the most healthful condi- 
tions tells heavily in its favor, for with the 
fresh air, bright sunlight, and green surround- 
ings that are almost invariably found near 
tennis-courts, good health is sure to follow 
enjoyment. 

As in all other vigorous sports, the one 
watchword for success is moderation, and no 
woman ought to play tennis much until she is 
thoroughly satisfied that her heart is in no 
way affected. It requires a strong heart and 

25 



26 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOETS 

considerable physical endurance to play habitu- 
ally ; but once a woman is assured of robust 
health, nothing can be better than hard tennis 
play, for the healthy perspiration carries oflE the 
impurities of the skin and flesh, while the ex- 
citing exercise makes the breath come fast, the 
heart beat quicker, and the rich red blood leap 
through the veins with a glow of health that 
brings the rosy color to the cheeks. The exer- 
cise is evenly distributed, too, bringing into 
play all the muscles of the body as well as the 
mind. 

Tournament play can not always be recom- 
mended for women. In the hot summer 
weather a long match is often a severe strain, 
which is materially increased by the fact that 
most final matches are the best-three-in-five 
sets instead of the best-two-in-three, as in Eng- 
land. One can not tell when a match may 
result in a long, tiresome struggle that wiU 
prove a physical drain, and it seems very un- 
sportsmanlike to stop play because of exhaus- 
tion, and give the victory to one's opponent in 
the middle of the game. If a woman has 



LAWN-TENNIS 27 

plenty of strength and endurance, however, 
tournament play wiU not only not harm her, 
but in most cases should prove distinctly bene- 
ficial 

Even though matches are not anticipated, 
every one who enjoys lawn-tennis as a pastime 
wants to play well, and yet few women do so. 
This backwardness on the part of the feminine 
devotees of the sport is due chiefly to a lack 

ciples of the game. Too often they pick it up 
carelessly, and never take the trouble to learn 
to play well, as do most English women. 
More than in any other sport, it is necessary 
for a woman to play against a man, and one 
who knows how to play much better, to really 
learn the game as men play it. All of the 
most skilful women players have gained their 
ability by constant practise against men. 

First and most important of all, the racket 
should be firmly gripped in making all of the 
strokes. A loose grasp ruins otherwise good 
play, and no habit wiU interfere with progress 
more than that of holding the handle loosely. 

8 



28 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

The slightest relaxation in the grasp will often 
let the racket turn in the hand while making 
a stroke, and it is a failure in consequence. 
It should be held by the extreme end always, 
the " butt," or leather binding at the end, rest- 
ing against the ball of the hand. 

For all forehand strokes, or those made 
when the ball is on the right side of the body, 
the hand should rest diagonally along the han- 
dle, with the first finger separated from the 
others and extended an inch or two farther 
along the racket, but also wrapped around it ; 
the finger should never extend its full length 
along the handle, as we sometimes see begin- 
ners doing. The finger-nails, when at rest on 
the handle, should face, at the moment the ball 
is hit, in the direction in which it is to fly. 

For backhand strokes — ^those made when 
the ball is on the left side and the arm and 
racket must be drawn across in front of the 
body — ^the fingers should be closer together, 
and the thumb extended out straight along 
the handle behind the racket, in order to give 
more force and better direction to the ball. 



The start of the fotehaod stroke to Uwo-teonis 



LAWN-TENNIS 29 

In backhand play, the second or middle 
knuckles should face, when the racket meets 
it, in the direction in which the ball is to be 
driven, 

In changing after one stroke for another 
on the opposite side, it is necessary to shift the 
grip somewhat, but this is easUy accomplished 
rthe r«=ket i, eamrf .oro» m front of the 
body. It is the custom of almost all good 
players to balance the racket between strokes 
in front of the body, with the upper part of 
the handle at the splice — as the fork where 
the wood of the handle spreads out into the 
frame is called — resting lightly in the left hand. 

After every stroke it is well to return the 
racket to this position, and the shift in the 
grip between strokes will never be found diffi- 
cult if this is done. In the heat of the play 
the effort of changing the hold becomes almost 
unconscious, and does not distract attention 
from the strokes themselves. Nearly all ex- 
perts condemn as bad form the habit of play- 
ing both forehand and backhand strokes with 
the same grip. 



30 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOETS 

In actually making the stroke the racket 
should start as far behind the point at which 
the ball is to be hit as possible, and swing as 
far beyond it after the blow as the full reach 
will permit In forehand strokes the full 
length of the ai'm should be extended behind 
the body to start the swing with plenty of 
impetus, and the stroke should be finished 
well up over the left shoulder, the racket even 
turning in the wrist and dropping down back 
of the head to stop its impetus. 

The swing for a backhand stroke should 
be almost exactly the reverse, the racket start- 
ing over the left shoulder and ending at the 
extreme length of the arm extended out be- 
yond. The body, however, should be turned 
in exactly opposite directions, so as to face the 
ball for each stroke, and the position of the 
feet should be shifted so as to give the firmest 
balance and the freest motion of the body. 
The feet should be spread well apart) and the 
body bent forward at the hips just before the 
ball is struck, so that its weight is added to 
the impulse of the racket in making the stroke. 



The end of the forehand stroke 



LAWN-TENNIS 81 

As in golf, the weight of the body is car- 
ried on the rear leg and directly over the foot 
before the stroke, and as the racket swings 
toward the ball it is thrown forward, shifting 
to the other, so the added force of the body 
greatly increases the power of the stroke. A 
long swingmg sweep of the arm and racket 
should be cultivated so as to meet the ball 
squarely and with a powerful impact as it 
comes toward you. 

AU side motion of the racket is lost power ; 
the head of the racket and the hand that 
guides it should travel as nearly as possi- 
ble in the direction the ball is to go, just 
before the stroke, while actually hitting the 
ball, and as long as possible after the im- 
pact. The follow through is nearly the same 
in tennis as in goK, and quite as important. 
Greater freedom in swinging the weight of 
the body while making the stroke is possi- 
ble in tennis, for the left arm is free to help 
recover the balance, while in golf both are 
required in holding the club. 

A tennis stroke is made while the body is 



32 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

in motion, too, instead of being still, as in gol^ 
so tlie weight is carried stiU farther forward 
and checked by bringing the rear foot out in 
front of the other. In making a fast tennis 
stroke forehanded, the weight starts on the 
right foot, shifts to the left as the ball is hit, 
and is finally checked again on the right, which 
takes a step forward to recover the balance 
just after making the stroke. 

In making lawn-tennis strokes,' it is vitally 
important to keep away from the ball. One 
of the most common errors among beginners, 
and even with some experienced players, is that 
of getting too close to the ball while playing. 
The cramped elbow that results from this 
ruins many more strokes than are ever spoiled 
by being too far away from the ball. 

A splendid maxim kid down by an expert 
is, that every player should go to the ball in 
making a stroke, and never let the ball come 
to her. Even when she finds herself in the 
right position to take the ball, it is better to 
step back as it approaches and then forward 
again to meet it, for this insures the correct 



'* 



LAWN-TENNIS 33 

position, with better speed and direction, and 
it keeps the weight moving forward when the 
stroke is made. If the flight or the bound of 
the ball is a little farther than calculated, the 
player will still be in the right position and 
not too close. In every stroke of the game, 
the position should be that of meeting the 
ball ; no fast stroke can be made while moving 
backward, or even with the weight thrown 
backward. 

The actual position of the racket in the 
hand while the stroke is being made is very 
important. In the preliminary swing, and in 
hitting the ball, the head of the racket should 
be nearly level with the wrist, and the end of 
the swing should finish with the racket well 
above the wrist. This requires an upward 
motion of the racket's head as well as of the 
forearm, and it is this motion that lifts the baU 
over the net, while the turning of the wrist to 
one side or the other directs it to the right 
or left. 

As the racket meets the ball its head 
should be drawn sharply upward, so that the 



34 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

Strings are dragged axiross the face of the baU 
while they are in contact with it, and this 
slight side motion gives the ball a twist that 
keeps it from sailing, and makes it drop soon 
after crossing the net. In some of the lift 
strokes or drop strokes played by experts, 
like the famous Lawf ord stroke, for instance, 
this drop is much exaggerated, and the ball 
describes a rainbow arch in its flight, dropping 
suddenly after crossing the net. Much power 
is wasted in such strokes, but a little twist is 
generally necessary to hit the ball hard and 
still make it fall inside of the court-lines. 

The height at which the ball should be 
taken depends on the height of its bound, 
which in turn depends on the hardness of the 
court. On most grass-courts, the bound in 
fast play reaches about to the knee, and this is 
the best height at which to hit the balL Even 
on harder courts — of dirt, sand, or boards — 
it is better to let the ball drop to this height 
before hitting it, although the longer bound 
keeps the player farther back in her court, 
which is not often desirable. Sometimes it is 



The start of the backhaod stroke 



LAWN-TENNIS 35 

necessary to hit the ball at the level of the 
hip to prevent being forced back too far from 
the net, but no stroke should ever be made 
underhand with the ball higher than the hip. 

The eyes should be kept on the ball all of 
the time as it approaches ; even up to the time 
of hitting it one should watch the ball, not 
the racket or the opposing player. It is some- 
times necessary to look up for a second to see 
the direction in which it is to be placed and 
where the opponent is, but this should be done 
before the stroke begins, not while it is being 
made. A player often reads her opponent's 
intention from the direction in which she is 
looking, and if she looks where she plans to 
place the ball, she may betray her thoughts, 
and the opponent anticipate the stroke by go- 
ing directly to that spot. 

Perhaps the best way for one who wants to 
play tennis well is to practise strokes against 
a blank wall — ^a high fence, the side of a house, 
or some solid obstacle of that kind — ^batting 
the ball up against it again and again, and hit- 
ting it from the bound each time it returns. 



36 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

Nothing can possibly aflEord better practise 
than this kind of play. Experts use it con- 
stantly in the spring, and find it a better way 
of getting into form, of " getting their eye on 
the ball,'^ as they say, than even regular prac- 
tise on a court. The ball always comes back 
at the corresponding angle to that at which it 
struck the wall, and with much greater regu- 
larity than any human opponent could return 
it. 

In all forms of practise, whether against a 
wall or an antagonist, the method of making 
the strokes should be kept in mind all of the 
time. Every stroke made in bad form is just 
so much wasted practise, and if a faulty style 
is contracted, the longer it is allowed to con- 
tinue without correction, the more dangerous 
it becomes. Bad form in lawn-tennis is as 
difficult to overcome as bad habits in anything 
else. Some of the simplest and least offensive 
of mannerisms too often develop into injuri- 
ous habits if not checked at once. 

Holding the racket loosely in the hand, 
swinging it or twisting it sidewise before mak- 



The eai of the backhand stroke 



LAWN-TENNIS 87 

ing a stroke, jumping a little just before the 
stroke instead of while it is being made, tak- 
ing the eyes off the ball, and even momentary 
lapses of indifference while playing, are all 
dangerous habits to contract, and each will de- 
velop into a bad fault if not checked at once. 

The questions of placing the ball and of 
covering court, so as to prevent the opponent 
from outplacing yon, are very important, and 
both permit unlimited study ; in fact, the clev- 
erest of tournament players never stop work- 
ing on these problems. After every stroke, 
from one side of the court or the other, the 
player should immediately hurry back to the 
center of the base-line so as to be ready to 
start for the next ball, no matter where it is 
placed. If she is caught too far away from 
the center, her opponent will surely win the 
stroke by placing the ball to the other side of 
the court and out of her reach. 

Not long ago I was surprised to find that 
one of the best of the American women play- 
ers — ^in fact, an ex-champion of the United 
States — ^repeatedly stood still after making a 



38 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOETS 

stroke from one side of the court, and waited 
to see the residt of her play, instead of huny- 
ing back to the center in anticipation of her 
opponent's next stroke. By this error she 
constantly left her court open at the opposite 
side for a well-placed ball that would win the 
point. 

When badly pressed for time, or far out to 
one side of the court, a lob is always useful, 
and it gives a player plenty of time to get 
back into position for the next play. Women 
should all learn to lob well, as it is an invalu- 
able stroke against others of their sex. No 
woman can smash a deep, well-lobbed ball hard 
enough to km ii^ and the lob is such an easy 
stroke to learn that it offers a perfect defense 
at all times. 

Volleying for women is really only useful 
in doubles. I have seen girls try to volley in 
single matches, but a deep lob always pre- 
vented their doing so effectually ; and it is so 
much easier to lob well than to volley well 
that the stroke is practically useless against 
any player who can lob, unless the net player 



LAWN-TENNIS 89 

has a partner to return tlie balls that go over 
her head. No woman can back up enough to 
smash a well-played lob, if she is close to the 
net ; and it is not only ineffective but very tire- 
some to turn around and run back each time 
an opponent lobs, and return the ball after it 
has bounded. 

In doubles, however, volleying is useful, 
for then one of the partners, when two women 
play together, or the woman in a mixed double, 
should be at the net most of the time. With 
a strong partner to back her up by returning 
balls that are out of her reach, she is not only 
eafe .t the net, but very ofte, a winning fl 
tor in smashing short balls. English teams 
usually play with the man at the net in 
mixed doubles, but the most successful pairs 
in America invariably play with the woman at 
the net and the man back. 

An overhand service is practically neces- 
sary for those who want to play the game 
well, although some English women learn to 
serve underhand with such a sharp twist that 
it is difficult to make a hard return from the 



40 THE WOMAN^S BOOK OF SPORTS 

erratic low bound. The ball should be tlirown 
up in the air as sta-aight as possible over the 
right shoulder for the overhand service, and 
hit just as it pauses in the air before falling. 
To throw it much higher and hit it as it falls 
is much more difficult and less effective. 

An overhand service should be made as 
fast as the player can control the ball within 
the boundaries of the proper court. The sec- 
ond service, too, after a first fault has been 
served, should be made in the same way, but 
slower. To serve in a different way tends to 
upset the accuracy of the first service as well 
as the second, and weakens botL 

It does not require great strength to play 
lawn -tennis well, and, contrary to popular 
impression, the speed of the ball does not de- 
pend much on the muscles of the player's arm. 
It is the long, true swing, with the weight of 
the body thrown into the stroke just as the 
ball is hit, that makes it fly so fast Thin, 
frail-looking women sometimes play a much 
swifter game than the robust, powerful girl 
who stands straight and simply swings her arm 



A fast overhand service 



LAWN-TENNIS 41 

and racket at tlie balL The stroke must be 
timed so that all the energy in the racket is 
concentrated just as the impact with the ball 
occurs, for this secures the greatest speed and 
the best direction and control 

As to dress for women in tennis, a short 
skirt is absolutely necessary in order to run 
about the court with any freedom. One or 
two of the best American players wear starched 
skirts of white duck, quite short, and they 
keep out of the way of the legs better than 
anything else-an important point to be consid- 
ered in any game where running about and 
quick toms give tfie skirts a tendency to wind 
around the knees in a way that makes it im- 
possible always to start quickly. A loose 
waist, preferably a shirt-waist, is also necessary 
to give freedom in the use of the arms, and 
it is much wiser to play without corsets, if 
possible, although it must be admitted that 
few women do so. 

Rubber-soled shoes are a necessity, neither 
too loose nor too tight. Shoes that permit the 
feet to slide around inside are quite as uncom- 



42 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

f ortable as those wHch are too tight, and blis- 
ters will soon follow. It is better to get shoes 
a little loose and then wear thick stockings, 
which keep the skin from being chafed while 
playing. Leather straps over the instep often 
work up painful blisters, and plain canvas 
shoes with rubber soles are generally prefer- 
able to leather ones. Ties or low slippers give 
little support to the ankles, and therefore high 
shoes are best, especially if one's ankles are 
not very strong. 

Mrs. Hillyard, the English woman cham- 
pion, always wears gloves while playing, but I 
know of no other player, man or woman, who 
does so. It is much better to gradually ac- 
custom the skin of the hand to the constant 
rubbing of the racket, so it wiU not blister, 
and then no gloves wiU be necessary. 



Ill 

HOW TO SAIL A CATBOAT 

Yachting is always associated in most peo- 
ple's minds witli a large boat and a uniformed 
crew of professional sailors, but neither is 
necessary for one to freely enjoy the sport. 
In fact, the Corinthian yachtsmen and yachts- 
women who " paddle their own canoe " often 
enjoy their recreation more than those who 
employ others to sail the boat. With a small 
yacht one can do this without difficulty, and 
women are at very little disadvantage when 
compared with men in handling snch a boat. 

For those who live near any stretch of 
smooth water, nothing can offer more enjoy- 
able sport than a small sailing yacht which can 
be easily handled by one person. There is al- 
ways room for three or four passengers when 
one wants to take one's friends out for a sail, 

4 43 



44 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

and a catboat with a sail small enougli to be 
easily hoisted by one person is the most con- 
venient size. 

For many years catboats were constantly 
spoken of as " death traps," but if those who 
condemned this rig for a pleasure yacht knew 
a little more about sailing, they would know 
that no other entails so smaU a risk of disaster. 
The prejudice against catboats arose chiefly 
from the fact that most sailing accidents oc- 
curred in them, but this was so because inex- 
perienced persons often took out catboats and 
seldom yachts of other rigs. 

As a matter of fact, any sailboat with a 
single sail " rigged fore-and-aft," as the sailor- 
men say, will invariably go up into the wind 
if left alone, and this is the safest position for 
a sailing boat Some of the new fin-keel boats 
are practically non-capsizable, and in smooth 
water, with the proper knowledge in handling 
a boat, and ordinary care, there is little or no 
danger with any catboat of good model and 
build. It requires only a thorough rudimen- 
tary knowledge of the art of handling a sail- 



SAILING 46 

boat, and a cool head, to enjoy the pleasures of 
sailing with comparative safety. 

The one cardinal principle that underlies 
all forms of boating is that of keeping a ves- 
sel's head up in the wind for safety. From 
the largest ocean steamer to the smallest row- 
boat, the one object of the man at the helm is 
to get her head into the wind whenever there 
is danger. This means to steer the boat 
around so that the bow points in the direction 
from which the wind is coming. 

The waves are always caused by the wind 
and come in the same direction, so your craft 
will ride over them bow first if her head points 
into the wind. If she falls off, however — that 
is, if her bow points off in another direction — 
she will soon be in the dangerous trough of the 
sea, or with her broadside toward the wind. 

Now when any catboat points up into the 
wind her sail flaps idly, because it is hinged at 
the mast and swings readily to leeward of the 
mast, so that it presents only its edge to the 
wind, not its side. It must be hauled up only 
when the boat is in the wind, and not until she 



46 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

is ready to start and cast off her moorings 
should she be allowed to fall off — ^that is, 
to swing around so that her sail fills with 
wind. 

Then if the sheet is hauled in, or " trimmed 
down," as the nautical people say, she will go 
ahead as soon as she can get under headway. 
Until she gets fully in motion, though, the 
boat will not quickly answer her helm — that 
is, steer accurately — ^but the faster she goes 
the less will the tiller have to be pushed one 
way or the other to alter the boat's course. 

To make any sailboat go ahead, the full 
breadth of sail should be exposed to the wind, 
if possible. When the wind is blowing from 
either side or behind, the sheet should be 
pulled in or let out until the boom is as nearly 
as possible at right angles with the direction 
of the wind, or parallel with the waves. K 
she is going directly before the wind the saQ 
is let out until the boom is at right angles 
with the course of the boat. It i& only when 
going to windward — ^that is, when one wants 
to sail toward the direction from which the 



Sailing: ^ catboat close-hauled 



SAiLma 47 

wind is blowing — ^that the full spread of the 
sail can not be used. 

Beating to windward is the most difficult 
work a sailboat has to do, and the theory 
of sailing must be understood thoroughly to 
handle her under these conditions. As any 
fore-and-aft rigged sail flaps idly when the 
boat is headed to windward, it is manifestly 
impossible to steer straight in that direction, 
for the saH wHl at once stop drawing, and the 
boat's headway wiQ soon be lost. The sub- 
stitute for direct sailing then is what is called 
tacking or beating, and this consists in sailing 
a zigzag course, which ultimately brings the 
boat to windward of where she started. 

For this kind of work the sheet is trimmed 
down close, with the sail almost parallel with 
the boat, and the course steered is as close as 
possible to the point from which the wind is 
blowing. You can soon see how close you can 
steer, for as soon as the sail begins to shake — 
" when she luffs," as saUormen say — she is too 
close and will not keep her headway, so she 
must be held a little more off the wind. Each 



48'' THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

/ 
/ 

I 

t^k brings you farther to windward, and the 
Wt constantly crosses and recrosses the line 
y^ou want to travel until she has worked up 
far enough in the desired direction. 

The centerboard is a necessary adjunct of 
every catboat, and its use should be under- 
stood by every one who tries to saiL The 
centerboard is an American invention to take 
the place of a keel in a larger boat, and is 
really a movable keeL It serves to prevent 
the boat from sliding through the water side- 
ways, and the more of it that is exposed to 
the water, the less will the boat make leeway, 
or slide away from its proper course. 

Whenever the boat is being steered to lee- 
ward — ^that is, when she is sailing before the 
wind, or nearly so — ^no centerboard is neces- 
sary, and it may be hauled up, as then it only 
serves to slow up the speed; but when the 
course of the boat is across the wind, or up 
toward it, the use of the centerboard is neces- 
sary to make the boat travel ahead instead of 
sideways. It would be impossible to make a 
shallow catboat go to windward without using 



SAHiTNG 49 

her centerboard, for she would slide to leeward 
almost as fast as she went ahead. 

With a steady breeze one can hold the 
sheet along the tiller with a turn around the 
cleat to take off the strain, but it should never 
be tied — ^made fast, that is — under any circum- 
stances. It is to this piece of foolhardiness 
that most accidents in catboats are due. A 
squall comes along, and before the boat can be 
luffed up into the wind she is capsized, be- 
cause her sail is tied in fast. 

Sometimes in a steady breeze, and always 
in puffy wind, it is necessary to slack off the 
sheet when the wind blows a little too hard 
and you find that the boat is tipping too much. 
To be sure, the farther a catboat tips over, the 
less of her sail is exposed to the wind and the 
more of her side is in the water to resist any 
further effort to upset her ; but at the same time 
it is not possible to luff in a second, and in a 
puffy wind it is wiser to slack off the sheet 
and spill part of the wind, and so right her 
again, than to let her tip too far over on her 
side while waiting for the squall to blow over. 



50 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

It is almost always better to ease oflE the 
sheet, too, than to put the boat up into the 
wind, for if she loses her headway in the wind, 
she may hang there " in stays," as the sailor- 
men say, and when she does fall off and her 
sail fill, she will not answer her helm until she 
has got well under way again. Without head- 
way any sailboat is unmanageable and might 
easily be capsized. 

It is very much easier to start a sailboat 
than to stop her, and considerable care must 
be taken in making a landing or coming np 
to any wharf or float with a catboat. Most 
small sailboats, however, are kept at buoys or 
moorings some distance out from the pier, and 
a rowboat tied there to take back the occu- 
pants when they are ready to come ashore 
again. 

To come up to any buoy and tie up a cat- 
boat, one must take her down to leeward of 
the buoy and then luff up directly into the 
wind, and with the sail flapping, steer straight 
to windward up to it. Some experience is ne- 
cessary to learn just how far a boat will shoot 



The proper way to handle a boat when it blows 



SATTiTNG 61 

into the wind^ and then one must calculate 
this distance to leeward of her buoy or anchor- 
age, and catch the moorings with a boat-hook 
when the vessel has come up to it and lost 
her headway. If she is allowed to shoot be- 
yond, you wiU probably miss the buoy and 
have to fin off and go around again to pick 
it up from the leeward side. 

To land a sailboat at any pier or float is 
even more difficult, for then if she carries too 
far there is no room to shoot beyond, and she 
will crash into it and something must break. 
The momentum of even a small sailboat is 
much greater than it seems to one inside of 
her, and if she strikes head on to any wharf or 
float, she may smash in her bow like an egg- 
shell. 

It is better to fall short of a pier a dozen 
times, and to keep on trying to fetch it, than 
to go too far and hit it hard once. That might 
mean the destruction of the boat, if not even 
more serious damage. In making any landing, 
it must always be remembered that a sailboat 
can only come up to the leeward side ; should 



52 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

this be the land side, or be unavailable for any- 
other reason, it is impossible to land at that 
pier or float except by taking the sail down 
first, and this is a difficult task. 

It is always best to lower the sail as soon 
as any landing is made or the boat is made 
fast to her moorings, unless she is to be taken 
out again very soon, and even then she should 
be watched all of the time. The wind may 
shift, and, filling her sail, send her ahead again 
unguided and do a lot of damage. If the 
wind is light and steady, and the boat is to be 
left for only a short time, it is sometimes safe 
to drop the peak-halyards until the upper end 
of the sail sags ofE idly, and then its drawing 
power is very much lessened. 

The sail can only be safely lowered when 
the boat's head points directly into the wind, 
and then the sheet should be trimmed in 
close — with the centerboard all the way up, as 
it should be whenever it is not in use— so the 
sail wiU fall over the boat as it comes down, 
not in the water. 

If the boat is to be put away for the night, 



SATTiTNG 63 

or is not to be used again for many hours, the 
sail should be furled and everything made 
snug before she is left. Upon the skill with 
which this is done depends much of a sailor- 
woman's reputation for seaworthiness. Only 
a landlubber will leave a boat with her sail 
in a heap on her deck, and it should be stowed 
away carefully every night if it is to be saved 
from the dews and rains that rot the canvas. 

Before the sail is lowered for furling, the 
shears, or boom-crotch, should be set up on 
the stem, and the peak-halyard and topping- 
lift lowered until the boom rests in the crotch. 
Then the sheet should be hauled in tight and 
made fast until the spar is held firmly in 
place there, so that no amount of wind or sea 
can shake it loose. 

When the sail has been fully lowered, the 
canvas should be pulled through all to one 
side of the boom, preferably the starboard, or 
right-hand, side of the boat. Then it should 
be stretched out toward the stem by pulling 
it from the outer edge or leech, until it lies 
along the boom in folds. By catching hold of 



54 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

the under part every foot or two and pulling 
over the loose part of the canvas above, it 
should be gradually rolled up until only the 
outer layer of the canvas is exposed. Then it 
should be rolled up on top of the boom, and 
with the gaff laid down close on top of the 
canvas, it should be tied down every few feet 
with stops, which are short pieces of loose rope 
or bands made for the purpose. 

The whole sail will then be held down 
firmly just above the deck, and the halyards 
and topping-lift should all be drawn taut and 
made fast, the tiller unshipped, and the center- 
board made fast fully up, before the boat is 
left for the night. The boat should never be 
left until everything movable is taken off her 
deck and stowed away in her cockpit, and a 
last look is given to make sure the moorings 
are made fast, so that there is no chance of 
the cable slipping and of her getting adrift. 

For all running-gear — ^loose ropes that 
work through pulleys — cleats are provided to 
make them fast. Excepting of course the 
sheet, which should never be made fast when 



Il 

il 

I 



SAILING 55 

under way, ropes should be wound on their 
cleats, kite fashion — that is, as a boy winds 
the cord of his kite, or as one winds a fish-line 
on a stick — criss-crossing from one end to the 
other of the cleat, and each cross passing over 
the previous one, so that it binds with the 
friction. 

To prevent the end from slipping, it is best 
to finish with a half -hitch, as it is called. This 
twist of the rope is constantly used in all boat- 
iiig matters, and is very useful for many other 
purposes where a string or rope is used. It 
consists of simply making a loop of the rope 
with the free end turned under the fast end by 
inverting the loop, and then putting it over 
the end of the cleat and drawing it down 
tight. The strain serves to bind the rope 
tighter, and the harder the pull comes from 
the fast end, the stronger the rope will hold. 
Two of these in succession, a whole hitch, will 
hold almost any strain when drawn tight. In 
making a small boat fast to a wharf or any- 
thing of that kind, it is the most useful kind 
of a knot. 



66 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOETS 

For furling or reefing a sail there is a spe- 
cial knot wliicli must always be used, and 
wMcli is very little trouble to learn. Under 
no circumstances should a hard knot ever be 
used on a boat, and it is better not to use 
a square knot for furling ; while it must never 
be used for reefing. The reefing knot is sim- 
ply a single twist or half-knot, with a half 
bow-knot on top of it, practically the same 
thing that is used so often for tying ordinary 
shoe-laces. The bow-knot on top can be pulled 
out in a jiffy with one jerk of the loose end of 
the loop, and the half-knot opens then with- 
out any difficulty. This knot never slips, yet 
can be loosened in a second without much 
effort. It is not safe, however, to trust a reef- 
ing knot for making a boat fast, or anything 
of that kind, for it might then work loose by 
the uneven tugging strain and set her adrift. 

One thing above all others must be remem- 
bered in sailing either a small boat or a large 
yacht. You must have enough water under 
her. Sailing in a thousand fathoms of water 
is far safer than in only a foot more than the 



SAILING 67 

boat actually requires to float her — ^what she 
draws, in other words. There is no more dan- 
ger of drowning in ten thousand feet of water 
than in ten feet ; on the contrary, the deeper 
the water, the more buoyant it is. 

If you want to avoid danger with a cat- 
boat, keep her in deep water. One need then 
only watch the wind and the sail to avoid dan- 
ger, whfle if part of the attention must be dis- 
tracted to watching out for shallow water 
where the boat may go aground, then it will 
be difficult to give as much attention as is 
necessary to the actual sailing of the boat 
itself. 

And, finally, above everything else, remem- 
ber one thing: The watchword of safety in 
yaxjhting is eternal vigilance. Whoever is re- 
sponsible for the safety of a party in a sail- 
boat should devote all of her or his attention 
and energy to watching out for possible dan- 
ger. If it does come, in the shape of a storm, 
or a squall, or a collision, the golden rule to be 
remembered is to keep your own head cool, 
and your boat's head up in the wind. 



IV 
THE USEFUL ART OF SWIMMING 

The art of swimming is an accomplishment 
that is of more \dtal importance to man — and 
woman, too, if she live near deep water — ^than 
any of his other sports. The fact that it is 
also a popular pastime should make it the 
most cultivated of all man's recreations, and 
yet it is not; on the contrary, only a small 
proportion of our people know how to swim, 
and not even a large percentage of those who 
hve near the deep waters by which we are 
surrounded and invaded. 

Swimming is not natural to human beings, 
as it is to most animals. Throw overboard a 
horse or a dog which has never been in the 
water before, and it will swinu The natural 
walking efforts of a four-footed animal keep 
it afloat and force it ahead. With man it is 

68 



SWIMMING 59 

aaierent; ho mv«t learn to »wiM jort as he 

must learn to walk and to talk. 

In nine cases out of every ten our educa- 
tions are sadly neglected in this respect, and 
tlie lessons in walking and talking are almost 
invariably followed by unnecessary accom- 
plishments, which are drilled into us to the 
neglect of that which might some day be the 
means of saving our lives, perhaps even the 
lives of others as well. 

For those who "go down to the sea in 
ships," swimming is a necessity and at the 
same time a pleasure. One can not conscien- 
tiously urge any woman to enjoy the delights of 
boating or the exhilaration of bathing until she 
has mastered the art of keeping afloat in water. 
To swim, even to swim well, is very much 
less difficult, however, than is generally sup. 
posed by those who do not already know how. 
If one begins properly the task of learning, the 
art will not be found difficult. The first requi- 
site to success is absolute confidence in a few 
truths that should be thoroughly digested and 
appreciated before the attempt is made. 



60 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

First, there is no reason to fear deep wa- 
ter; that which is six feet over one's head is 
no more dangerous than that which is only 
six inches; in fact, the deeper salt water is, 
the more buoyant it is. Second, it should be 
realized that all human bodies will float rather 
than sink if perfectly inert, and none wiU sink 
far below the surface so long as the lungs are 
kept full of air. 

Without going too deeply into the techni- 
cal side of the matter, a little explanation of 
the real facts may go a long way toward 
instilling this very confidence that is impera- 
tive in prospective swimmers. 

The floating capacity of a human body 
depends on the proportion of its bulk that 
is made up of bone. Bones are heavier than 
water, and will sink of their own weight un- 
less supported; while flesh and fat will float 
of their own buoyancy unless drawn down by 
some heavier substance. 

A very thin woman, whose bones consti- 
tute the greater proportion of her weight, 
might settle down until nearly all of her bulk 



SWDOUNG 61 

was submerged, but not farther ; while a stout 
woman would float naturally, more or less of 
her body bemg under the surface, according 
to the proportion of flesh and bones. So long 
as the lungs are kept full of air, however, no 
human body, if inert, will sink entirely be- 
neath the water; it is their useless straggles 
to keep up that drag so many people under 
the surface. 

As it is our bones that cause the tendency 
to sink, the arms, legs, and head are the 
heaviest, being made up chiefly of bone, while 
the trunk of the body gives us buoyancy. 
Really the head is the sinker of the human 
fish-line, for its weight is composed almost 
entirely of bone, with little or no flesh to help 
support it. In order to float the body without 
effort, it is necessary to submerge practically 
all of it, as well as the arms and legs; even 
then the head will not be supported entirely 
out of water unless the swimmer be very 
stout. 

The head must be dropped down until it 
becomes three-quarters submerged, and this 



62 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

can only be done without effort when turned 
over on the back, so that the remaining quar- 
ter will include the mouth and nose, the 
openings for breathing. If people would let 
themselves settle down in the water until only 
the nose and mouth were above the surface, 
they would only have to keep the lungs in- 
flated to float naturally. 

When one wants to swim with the back 
up, it is necessary to make some effort to keep 
up the head, for most of its bulk must then 
be above the surface in order to breathe. It 
is the arms which do this part of the work, 
not the legs, as is so often believed. It is a 
common error for inexperienced swimmers to 
suppose that all of their progress is due to the 
efforts of the arms, and that the feet are used 
simply to support the weight. 

On the contrary, it is almost exactly the 
opposite way, aaid the prevalence of this mis- 
conception by women accounts frequently for 
their inability to swim rapidly. Many of 
them simply flop their legs straight up and 
down after they have learned to support them- 



SWIMMING 63 

selves in the water, and then wonder that 
their arms become so tired and that they make 
so little progress as compared with their mas- 
culine friends. 

Naturally it is best to learn the use of the 
arms first, for it is most important to support 
the weight of the head above the water before 
the effort to progress is attempted. Once the 
diflSculty of maintaining the body's buoyancy 
has been overcome, the method of making 
progress can be taken up, with the question of 
speed left for the final lesson. 

There are many methods of using the arms 
in the water, but the most useful of all, and 
certainly the most practicable for women, is 
the well-known breast-stroke. This is the 
most natural method of swimming, and at the 
same time the most economical of strength, 
although it is not so fast as the side-stroke or 
the overhead stroke. 

The motion of the arms for this breast- 
stroke is familiar to nearly every one, but it 
has so often been corrupted and cut short and 
altered that it would be well to describe it 



64 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

minutely for the benefit of those who purpose 
learning to swim without the help of a pro- 
fessional instructor. 

The stroke is started with the arms both 
stretched out to their full length before the 
chesty the palms of the hands flat against each 
other and the fingers closed tightly together. 
As the sweep begins, the palms open and turn 
face downward, and then are beveled out- 
ward at an angle of f orty-five degrees, or half- 
way between the perpendicular and the hori- 
zontal 

With the fingers still closed tightly to- 
gether, the arms make a full circular sweep 
outward and backward, still stretched to their 
full length, imtil they are directly opposite 
each other and at right angles to the body, 
each having traversed one-quarter of the full 
circle. 

When straight out from the sides they stop 
and are drawn in again rapidly, the wrists 
bending so that the hands will follow in the 
wake of the arms, and not catch the water in 
returning to place. The elbows drop down to 



SWIMMINQ 65 

the sides and the forearms close in under the 
chest until the palms meet again, when the 
arms are thrust forward once more, and the 
stroke is repeated. 

This exercise can be practised while stand- 
ing *on dry land ; and with any experienced 
swimmer to criticise and correct errors, it 
should soon become practically mechanical, re- 
quiring no thought or attention to be repeated 
indefinitely. 

The most difficult thing for beginners to 
appreciate is that it can be made very slowly 
and still serve its purpose of keeping the head 
afloat. The beveled palms press the water 
downward as well as backward, and so do 
double duty. The less support that is re- 
quired — either because of the fat of the swim- 
mer, her limg capacity, or the partial submer- 
sion of the head — the more useful will be the 
arms for progression, and the less will they 
have to be beveled downward. 

A stout woman who floats naturally far 
enough out of water to breathe comfortably 
with the face downward need hardly bevel the 



66 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

hands at all, and all their energy can be ex- 
erted to push the water backward and the 
body forward; while, on the other hand, a 
very thin woman will have to use all of the 
efforts of her hands to keep the head above 
water, and depend on the legs for progression. 
Once the motion of the arms has been 
properly acquired by practise on land, the 

best method to learn their use in the water is 
to wade out up to one's armpits and turn the 
face toward shore. Then launch the body 
forward and try to support the head in the 
water by the efforts of the arms with this 
stroke ; it is not necessary to try to progress 
until one has learned to keep up. 

Every time it is tried the strokes should be 
made slower until one can support the body 
with not more than twenty strokes to the min- 
ute. After this experiment has been success- 
ful often enough to win some confidence in 
the water, it is well to turn the face along- 
shore and swim parallel with the beach in 
water about four feet deep. 

An experienced swimmer can materially 



SWIMMINa 67 

help a beginner by supporting her while she is 
learning the strokes. This should not be done, 
however, as we so often see, by putting one 
hand under the chin, for the helping hand not 
only interferes with one of the swimmer's 
arms, but also makes a beginner depend too 
much on a support for the head, and not make 
her hands do their proper work. It is better 
to hold the pupil at the waist or chest, either 
by a belt around her waist, or by gripping the 
back of the bathing-dress ; the skirt-band gen- 
erally offers a good opportunity for this. 

A beginner almost invariably forgets to use 
her hands if she thinks of her legs, and vice 
versa. While she is learning the use of the 
arms, it is well for her to try to kick too, but 
until she has properly mastered the stroke for 
the arms, her attention should not be dis- 
tracted from them by trying to correct the leg 
action. The use of the legs would best be 
taught separately, and then the two combined. 

The strokes of the legs are more important 
in many ways than those of the arms, and no 
one can become a really good swimmer until 



68 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

she has fully mastered the proper use of her 
legs in deep water. 

Expert instructors declare that they de- 
pend almost entirely upon the legs for progress 
when using the breast-stroke, and one has only 
to watch them in the water to realize why 
they move along so much faster than others. 
Their kicks are much more energetic and much 
more complete than those we see even when 
watching good amateur swimmers. 

The correct stroke of the legs is exactly 
like that of a frog's hind legs. Watch a frog 
and copy his style; you can not do better. 
The legs are drawn up together slowly, not 
with a jerk, until they are gathered in close 
under the body. Then with a sudden, quick 
spring they are shot out behind, the ankles 
being turned so that the soles of the feet pre- 
sent as flat a surface as possible to the water, 
and so offer more resistance from which to 
make progress. 

As the kick is made, the legs should be 
spread out in the shape of a letter V, but not 
allowed to sink far down under the surface of 



The correct costume for swimming; 



SWIMMINa 69 

the water. If they kick downward at a sharp 
angle instead of out straight behind, much of 
their energy is wasted in unnecessarily forcing 
the body up and out of the water instead of 
forward through it. 

The kick should not end until the legs are 
absolutely straight, and then they should be 
drawn together quickly at the end of the 
stroke until they actually touch. This last 
part of the leg stroke is generally omitted by 
aU but the most expert swimmers, yet it is 
most effective in forcing the body forward 
through the water. The water is pushed out 
behind, and its resistance adds materially to 
the energy of the kick. 

When the stroke is finally completed, the 
legs are drawn up again, like those of the frog. 
The knees bend up under the body, the lower 
legs behind the upper, the ankles being turned 
like the wrists, so that the feet follow in the 
wake of the legs and do not displace more 
water, which would only act as a drag. The 
legs should be drawn up slowly after the kick, 
so as not to retard one's progress through the 



70 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

water. If they are brought in quickly, like 
the anns, the stroke becomes jerky, and the 
body progresses only in short, sharp jerks, 
stopping between the strokes. 

The best method of learning the motion of 
the legs is to hold on to some raft or float, 
and drop overboard until the body is all sub- 
merged to the chin, and only the hands and 
part of the arms are above water. Then kick 
slowly but in regular time, and you can tell 
from the pressure against the arms, as they 
rest on the float, how much forward energy 
the legs axe producing. 

Great care should be taken to complete the 
full stroke with each kick, closing the legs 
tightly at its end, in order to get all the 
energy possible from the work ; and it is wise 
to keep making the strokes slower until you 
make no more than twenty to the minute. 
Still a better variation of this method of learn- 
ing the use of the legs for swimming is to 
get a large life-preserver, a floating log, or an 
idle rowboat, and resting both hands as before 
on that, kick with the legs, and note the prog- 



SWIMMING n 

ress of the body and its support througli the 
water. 

Even after the two motions are mastered, 
it is not always easy to swim alone. The dif- 
ficulty is to work both arms and legs together 
as you are able to do them singly. The stroke 
of the legs should begin when the arms have 
traversed about half of their sweep, and this 
must be timed so that it begins at exactly the 
same point each time, and the same number of 
strokes is made with both the legs and the 
arms. 

It is better to get some friend to hold one 
up in shallow water, and gradually learn to use 
both strokes in proper rhythm untH the friend 
finds she can take away the support without 
embarrassment to the learner. Even then it 
is not wise to venture out into deep water 
until thorough confidence lias been gained, and 
one has made many tours without help around 
the shallow waters. Sometimes the mere 
knowledge that the water is " over your head '' 
for the first time causes a fright that makes 
the beginner forget all she has learned about 



72 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

swimming, but this soon wears off, and the 
needful confidence follows not long after. 
Then one begins to realize fully that deep 
water is no more dangerous than shallow. 

Diving requires, first of all, a good knowl- 
edge of swimming, and should not be at- 
tempted until one has thoroughly mastered 
the simpler art. The secret of success then is 
to keep the knees stiff in Jumping, to keep the 
lungs well filled with air in going down, and 
to protect the head with the hands over it. 

A good dive is made only when the body 
follows into the water through the same open- 
ing made by the hands and there is little 
splash as it goes down. To do this one must 
dive straight, the legs straightening out after 
leaving the raft or float and following the 
body into the water. The head is really the 
rudder in diving, and when you have gone 
down low enough, you turn to come to the sur- 
face by throwing back your head. This makes 
the body turn under water, and if the lungs are 
filled with air, it will come to the surface at 
once, head first. 



SWIMMING 73 

Floating is much simpler than diving, and 
depends entirely upon the proportion of bones 
and flesh in the swimmer, as before explained. 
A stout person can float without the slightest 
effort or difficulty, while a thin person must 
keep the head from sinking by a slight motion 
of the hands just under the sides, and a stiffen- 
ing of tlie neck 

In any case, it is imperative to let the head 
sink down nntU the ears and most of the top 
and back of the head are submerged. With 
only the mouth and nose above the surface, 
one can float in salt water, no matter how thin, 
if the body is allowed to relax entirely and the 
lungs are kept fiUed with air. 

Swimming, in salt water particularly, is 
one of the most healthful of all sports. The 
vigorous exercise makes the body perspire, and 
the impurities are carried ojff at once and 
washed away by the water. Salt is well 
known to be purifying and strengthening, and 
ocean baths are frequently prescribed by doc- 
tors for people whose health is bad. However, 
simply pounding about in the breakers of the 



74 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

ocean surf is a poor substitute for swimming ; 
and wlien a woman lias learned to go out be- 
yond tbem in safety and swim in deeper water, 
she will not again care to be hammered around 
in the surf near the shore. 

It is particularly important that nothing 
tight she Jd be worl while swimming, no rJ 
ter how fasHonable a dress may be for bath- 
ing. The exercise requires the greatest free- 
dom, and a swimming costume should never 
include corsets, tight sleeves, or a skirt below 
the knees. The freedom of the shoulders is 
the most important of all, but anything tight 
around the body interferes with the breathing 
and the muscles of the back, while a long 
skirt — even one a few inches below the 
knees — ^binds the legs constantly in making 
their strokes. 

It is worth knowing, perhaps, that aU un- 
dertows and sets, the dangerous currents which 
are so* often encountered on the seashore, are 
well under the surface, and the most effective 
way to avoid them is to swim with the body 
close up to the siu^ace of the water. One 



SWIMMING 75 

other warning: Never dive into any water 
until the depth of it has been thoroughly 
tested and known to be not less than six feet. 
Even then one's hands should always be kept 
above the head for protection when diving, 
until a turn is made to come to the surface. 



6 



THE USE AND ABUSE OF BICYCLINa 

Despite the undeniable fact that bicycle 
riding among women is not so popular now as 
during its fad period a few years ago, the 
sport has lost none of its charms or physical 
advantages. There can be intemperance in 
sport, in exercises, even in pleasures, and it 
was this very excess in the immoderate use of 
the bicycle a few years ago that caused the 
reaction among the more exclusive women in 
our big American cities. They caught the 
bicycle fever and soon ran the fad into the 
ground, with the inevitable result. Rationally 
enjoyed, cycling is one of the most attractive 
and most healthful exercises ever available for 
women, but, like everything else, it quickly 
loses its charm when one has overdone the 
thing. 

76 



BICYCLING 77 

The fear of physical injury, wHch spread 
terror througli the ranks of feminine cyclists a 
few years ago, has now largely passed away, 
for we have the approval of some of the most 
eminent medical specialists in favor of the 
wheel. No less an authority than Dr. G. M. 
Hammond, the New York specialist in mental 
and nervous diseases, declared in an address 
at the Academy of Medicine : " Little need be 
said about the rational use of the bicycle by 
healthy persons. It is only when the wheel 
is improperly or immoderately used that it 
eonrtitati a source ol danger/ 

In badly-shaped and iU-adjusted saddles 
and the desire to scorch are hidden the prin- 
cipal dangers of wheeling. An uncomfortable 
saddle should never be ridden, no matter how 
much it is recommended by one's friends. Be- 
cause it suits one, there is no reason why it 
should suit another. The adjustment of the 
saddle is quite as important as its shape. It 
should not be tipped forward so as to throw 
the weight toward the handle-bars, nor back 
so that it becomes necessary to hold one's 



Y8 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

weight from sliding backward. It should bear 
the body upright so that no effort or extra pres- 
sure in any direction is necessary to keep from 
sliding off. In fact, it should be a seat rather 
than a saddle, and as comfortable as possible. 

Nothing can be more dangerous than 
riding with the saddle-post too high. The 
correct length of reach can easily be tested 
by sitting upright on the saddle with one 
pedal down at its lowest point. With the leg 
straight, the arch of the foot under the instep 
should rest naturally on the pedal, without 
leaning the body over to lengthen the reach, 
or bending the knee to shorten it. 

It is important also that the saddle be 
adjusted far enough forward so that the rider 
sits directly over her work; nothing is more 
tiring than riding a bicycle with the saddle too 
far back or too low. In either case the knees 
bend too much and the muscles of the legs 
soon become exhausted. If the saddle is too 
far back, it is necessary to lean forward in 
the ungraceful and unhealthy position of the 
scorcher in order to reach the handle-bars. 



BICYCLING Y9 

Despite the legion of instruction books 
that have been published and the number of 
schools for learning to ride the bicycle, many- 
women who ride wheels make the same old 
mistakes. They do not sit upright on the 
machine as they should, with the shoulders 
thrown back, the chest out, and the head erect. 
Not only is this the most graceful position for 
riding, but it is also the most healthful Curi- 
ously enough, common sense and vanity, usu- 
ally diametrically opposed to each other, are 
united on this point. 

The woman who rides with her head and 
shoulders bent forward over the handle-bars, 
whether she scorches or rides leisurely, is not 
only hopelessly ungraceful, but she deprives 
herself of the healthful advantages of the 
exercise, for cramped lungs can not breathe 
properly, and the heart soon labors in this 
position. 

It is really surprising how many women 
find it difficult to mount a bicycle properly, 
but the reason is very near the surface. In- 
stead of taking it at the proper height, they in- 



80 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

sist on having the pedal too low when they put 
their weight upon it, and the result is that the 
wheel does not get enough start before they 
are on the saddle. The other pedal will not 
turn past the dead center, the wheel stops, and 
they are forced to jump ojff again hurriedly. 

The right pedal should be fully two-thirds 
of the way up to mount properly, and the 
whole weight should be kept on that pedal 
untU it has dropped half-way down in its 
course. Then the machine will start ahead 
quickly before one takes the saddle, and its 
force wiU be enough to carry the left pedal 
around past the top of its turn, and the other 
f oof s pressure on that at once gets the wheel 
under full headway. 

Brakes should always be used on bicycles 
for women, and those which clutch the tire 
jSrmly, so as to stop the wheel in a short dis- 
tance, are particularly desirable. Too much use 
of the brake, particularly when the wheel is 
going fast, wears out the front tire before its 
appointed time, but it will be found very use- 
ful in dismounting hurriedly. 



l! 
ii 

11 
i' 



BIOYOLma 81 

For the ordinary dismount, the bicycle 
should be slowed up and the weight thrown 
over to the left foot when the pedal is at the 
bottom of its circle. As it begins to rise, the 
weight of the dismounting rider will check the 
progress of the wheel, and she can step quietly 
to the ground. It is not necessary to jump off 
or to fall off ; if the wheel is stopped properly, 
either with the brake or by the use of the 
body's weight, the rider can step off just as 
gracefully and with as little danger as she 
Sep, off . eurtetone. 

One of the most familiar difficulties is that 
encountered so frequently in merely leading a 
bicycle. Not one woman in ten leads a wheel 
properly, and for that matter very few men do 
either. Most women lean over and with con- 
siderable effort push the machine with one 
hand on each handle-bar, but this makes them 
bend the body uncomfortably, or they are so 
close that the idle pedal constantly strikes 
their shins as they walk alongside of the bi- 
cycle. To avoid this, some of them lead their 
wheels by one handle-bar, but it is obviously 



82 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

impossible to guide it properly in this way; 
others put the right hand on the saddle and 
the left on the bar. 

The correct method, however, is different 
from all of these. The wheel should be 
grasped by the center of the handle-bar, with 
the fingers turned up and divided around the 
head-post. This way of leading keeps the ma- 
chine farther away from the body, so as not to 
interfere with walking by it, and at the same 
time guides it most easily. If one wants to 
lead an idle wheel, while riding (though it 
takes au expert rider to do so in safety), tiiis is 
the best way in which it can be done: The 
instant it swerves too close or too far, the 
front wheel is lifted from the ground, and the 
idle bicycle immediately recovers its balance. 

The public parks and drives of our big 
cities offer many attractions for wheeling, and 
nothing is more invigorating than a short spin 
over the well-kept roads in the early morning 
or late in the afternoon, particularly in the 
spring and faU. The healthy glow and stimu- 
lated energies bring new life and enthusiasm 



BICYCLING 88 

to the house-motli so long cooped up by the 
winter. The lungs drink in the pure air and 
the heart pumps fresh red blood through the 
veins with new exhilaration. 

Deep breathing expands and develops the 
lungs, and a light perspiration is good for the 
body, for it carries off the impurities through 
the pores of the skin. A cool bath immedi- 
ately after exercise, before the perspiration is 
allowed to dry off, washes away these impur- 
ities and is wonderfully refreshing. In mod- 
eration nothing can be more beneficial than 
wheeling ; over-indulgence is the only thing to 
be feared. 

When the summer is fully under way, 
touring on bicycles is one of the most enjoya- 
ble means of spending a short vacation. Few 
can afford to enjoy the English and Continen- 
tal tours that have so often been described, 
but there are hosts of beautiful rides here at 
our own doors. It is not possible to see the 
country so well in any other way, and those 
who have never made a tour through the famous 
Shenandoah YaUey, for instance, or down the 



84 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

Delaware Valley, have pleasures yet in store 
for them, before they sigh for other fields to 
conquer. In these days when so much is 
being done to improve the roads for cyclists, it 
is rather the exception than the rule to find 
places that are not ridable. The powdered 
bluestone roads are almost as smooth as the 
proverbial billiard-table, and seldom dusty. 

Following the Delaware Eiver down fifty 
miles of its course, from Port Jervis to the 
Water Gap, you are constantly in a land of 
sunshine, with the cooling river close at hand 
if the sun becomes too warm. There are 
scores of other tours quite as delightful, val- 
leys through which run rivers being the most 
available, because the roads are generally less 
hilly there. 

Down the Shenandoah turnpike, from 
Staunton to Winchester, you pass through the 
smiling valley for a hundred miles, the " pike '^ 
running between the Shenandoah and the 
Blue Ridge Mountains, with charming scenery 
on either hand. Historic spots made famous 
by the battles of the civil war follow each 



BICYCLING 85 

other in close succession, and you almost im- 
agine yourseK with Sheridan when the farm- 
ers call out, in answer to your inquiry, that 
Winchester is only " twenty miles away." 

In England the parcels' post, which is so 
admirably run by the government authorities, 
saves the necessity of carrying much luggage on 
the wheel, but over here it is necessary to take 
a small bundle of clean clothes along with you. 
With a square of waterproof cloth, such as 
gossamers and piano-covers are made of, it is a 
very simple matter to wrap up a few clean 
clothes, a tooth-brush, and the few other trifles 
which are indispensable, into a package small 
enough to be conveniently carried on the back 
of the bicycle. In such a cover, too, they are 
always safe from rain. 

A touring party with women among its 
number should confine its daily runs to not over 
twenty-five miles, and if the country is hilly, 
twenty will be found quite enough for a 
day's ride. When the distance is made too 
great, all the pleasure of the ride is lost in the 
hard work of pushing the wheel. The towns 



86 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

are generally so close together that it is quite 
unnecessary to map out a day's run, or to de- 
cide upon the objective point until it has been 
reached. If the heat of the sun or a storm cuts 
short the ride, the next .town is generally 
close at hand, while it is seldom far to the 
nearest repairing-shop if any of the wheels 
should break down. 

If one would enjoy a week's vacation in 
the open air, nothing will offer more genuine 
pleasure mixed with healthy exercise and new 
scenes, than a bicycle tour through one of our 
many picturesque valleys. 



. VI 
BASKETBALL FOR YOUNQ WOMEN 

The value of basketball as a training for 
young women was truly summed up by Miss 
Senda Berenson, the director of physical train- 
ing at Smith College, when she declared : 

" Now that the woman's sphere of useful- 
ness is constantly widening, and all fields of 
labor and all professions are opening their 
doors to her, she needs more than ever the 
physical strength to meet these ever-increasing 
demands ; and not only does she need a strong 
physique, but physical and moral courage as 
well. Games are invaluable for women in that 
they bring out, as nothing else, just these 
elements that women find necessary to-day 
in their enlarged field of activities, and basket- 
ball is the game above all others that has 
proved of the greatest value to them. It de- 

87 



88 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

velops physical and moral courage, self-reK- 
ance and self-control, and the ability to meet 
success and defeat with dignity." 

With the exceptions of such partial team- 
play as required for doubles in lawn-tennis and 
foursomes in goh^ basketball is practically the 
only team game that is open to women. The 
spirit that pervades all sports of this descrip. 
tion, that of sinking one's individuality in the 
larger unit of the team and of sacrificing in- 
dividual interests to team success, fosters in 
women the very spirit of mutual assistance, of 
"sticking together," as we commonly call it, 
the lack of which is sometimes most noticeable 
in the sweeter sex. 

Experienced teachers of basketball find 
this the most difficult point for young women 
to master. They learn the individual plays 
quickly, and soon become proficient in han- 
dling the ball ; but the idea of not trying for 
a difficult goal oneself, when a near-by team- 
mate would have a better chance of scoring if 
the ball were passed to her, seems absolutely 
new to most young college girls. Mastering 



BA8EETBALL 89 

this new interest, this es;^ de corps, proves 
finally to be the most profitable, though the 
most difficult, work of the feminine collegians. 

But aside fi*om this spirit there are wonder- 
ful physical advantages in basketbalL Of all 
the team games that men play, for many long 
years not one was available for the women's 
colleges. Eowing, baseball, football, aad all 
of the others proved too severe for feminine 
physique, although the girls dabbled in them 
occasionally with indifferent success. 

Basketball, however, was available from 
the first, and it was not many months after its 
invention in 1892 that it was welcomed in all 
of the women's gymnasiums. The physical 
directors soon found its popularity a wonder- 
ful boon. The fascination of the game at- 
tracted the girls to the gymnasiums, and they 
took this exercise willingly and even eagerly 
when chest-weights, dumb-bells, and rowing- 
machines seemed a drudge. The excitement 
of the play permitted them more exercise with 
less fatigue, the advantage of which is ap- 
parent. 



90 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

But the evil that tlrreatened to ruin the 
game for men soon spread its somber wings 
over the girls' college gymnasiums. The ele- 
ment of roughness forced constant alterations 
in the rules that applied to men's play, and 
lack of organization permitted each college di- 
rector to make her ovm changes, until there 
were almost as many codes of rules as there 
were centers of play. 

But women's new spirit of organization 
soon came to their rescue, and the revised set 
of rules for the game has been accepted al- 
most universally, placing the game once more 
on a uniform basis throughout the country. 

There are only two important differences 
between the rules of the game for women and 
those for men. The modified code prohibits 
one player from snatching the ball away from 
another or striking it out of her grasp, and it 
also divides the playing-field into three equal 
parts, certain players being assigned to each 
and not being allowed to run across the bound- 
aries between them. In order to prevent one 
player from keeping the ball indefinitely, since 



BASKETBALL 91 

her opponents are not allowed to take it away, 
the rules prevent her from holding the ball for 
longer than three seconds at a time, or bounc- 
ing it at a height lower than the knee, or more 
than three consecutive times at any height. 

These rules require more passing, more 
clever team-work, and fewer of the individual 
star plays that marked the games under the 
older code, like that stUl used by the men. 
They prevent the girls from getting huddled 
together in one section of the field of play, and 
in keeping them separated, remove much of 
the danger of accidents. There was previ- 
ously a tendency with nearly every girl to hold 
the ball when she got it until she was able to 
try for a goal, and constant fouls were the re- 
sult. Combination plays were unused, and 
the baU was seldom passed from one to an- 
other unless the player having it was hope- 
lessly blocked from any possibility for a goal. 

As played now, the game is very much 
more interesting to both spectators and play- 
ers. It equalizes the value of the different 
positions, does away with two of the greatest 

7 



92 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

sources of danger in the physical contact and 
the constant running permitted by the former 
rules, and encourages the cleverest kind of 
team-play. 

The game begins with the ball thrown up 
into the air by the referee, who stands in the 
middle of the gymnasium floor with one of 
the centers from each side opposite her. Each 
tries to get the ball by jumping for it, and as 
soon as one succeeds, she passes it to another 
player of her side, who in turn dodges, passes, 
or throws the ball on again to another, and 
this is kept up until it reaches one of the for- 
wards near the basket, and then a goal trial 
is made. 

The greatest skill in the defensive work 
of the game lies in covering an opponent at 
all times so that she can not get the ball, or 
pass it to some partner if she already has it. 
Each player is assigned to a certain position 
in the field, and every position corresponds to 
a similar one on the other team. Each girl 
has an individual opponent, and they keep 
close together throughout the game, the others 



BASKETBALL 93 

being paired off around the field, according to 
their positions, the centers opposite each other, 
and the forwards opposed by the guards of 
the other team. 

With five players on each side, there are 
four girls — ^two forwards and two opposing 
guards — ^in each of the end spaces, and two 
in the center; with six to a team there 
are four in each of the three spaces, there 
being two centers on each side, while with 
still larger teams they are apportioned by a 
similar system. 

As soon as one of the players has the ball 
the others of her side aU try to get uncov- 
ered — ^that is, to get away from their nearest 
antagonists, so that the ball can be safely 
passed to them. The other side is necessarily 
on the defensive until one of its members can 
secure the ball, and it is their duty to keep 
their opponents all covered, so that the ball 
can not be passed to them without interfer- 
ence. As the rules prevent the girl who has 
it from keeping the ball more than three sec- 
onds, she must try to pass it almost instantly. 



94 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SP.ORTS 

and the action becomes very fast in conse- 
quence. 

This covering of a player is not nearly 
so easy as it appears, for the opponent makes 
every effort to keep out from under cover, 
so that her services may be available for her 
team, and a clever player's dodging, turning, 
and twisting make life a burden for her op- 
ponent. The cleverer she is the more difficult 
will it be to keep her out of the game by 
this covering. 

With the guards there is still another duty 
of this kind. As soon as one of the opposing 
forwards can get the ball she wiU make a try 
for a goal, for the forwards are placed very 
near the goal-basket, and it is their work to 
make most of the scores. Not only must a 
guard prevent her opponent from passing the 
ball to a free partner, but she must also cover 
any attempt to shoot a goal — ^that is, she must 
interpose her arm or her body so that her 
opponent can not shoot for a goal unob- 
structed. Most attempts at goals are spoiled 
by clever guards, but if the opposing forward 



BASKETBALL 95 

be cleverer than her guard, she often manages 
to dodge out from under cover and make a 
successful try for goal. 

Once the guard has secured the ball from 
the opposing forwards, she must get it away 
from her goal and out of danger at all hazards. 
If her opponent keeps her so closely covered 
that she is imable to pass it safely to another 
of her own team, she should throw it up the 
field toward her antagonists' goal-basket, and 
thus offer her own forwards a chance to try 
for a goal if they can secure the ball. 

The work of the guards is really the most 
difficult of all, and at the same time the least 
remunerative, since they can never tiy for 
goals, and their work is almost entirely de- 
fensive. Their success depends chiefly on the 
sMl with which they can cover the opporing 
forwards, and there are so many different ways 
of blocking an attempt for goal that the posi- 
tion offers much chance for clever play. In- 
deed, they are the chief mainstay of a team's 
defense. 

An absolute rule of the game forbids tack- 



96 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

ling or holding a player in any way, and it is a 
foul to even pnt one arm around an opponent 
to interfere with her. A player can always 
stand in front of her, however, and so far as 
possible interpose her body or her arms be- 
tween the baU and the direction in which it 
is to be thrown. 

For any one to violate this rule of holding 
constitutes a foul, the penalty being a costly 
one, since the opponents then have the right to 
make a free throw for goal at a distance of 
fifteen feet from the basket. College players 
practise these free throws imtil some of them 
become so expert at it that they score fre- 
quently from this fifteen-foot mark. Fouls, 
therefore, are costly in this game, since a goal 
from one of these free throws counts one point 
in the score against two points for one made 
from the field. 

Scoring a goal from a free throw is a very 
different matter from making one while the 
play is in progress. The rule requires that 
there shall be no interference with the player 
who tries for a goal as a penalty for a foul, but 



BASKETBALL 97 

the opponents make it as difficult as possible to 
throw one from the field. If one of the for- 
wards can dodge or twist or turn so as to 
fool her opposing guard and get out from un- 
der cover, she shoots the ball at once for the 
basket. 

This shoot of the baU is different from 
an ordinary throw, for it is made with an up- 
ward straightening thrust of the arms, a sharp 
twist of the wrists, and a little jump from the 
ground. The ball generally goes up slowly 
and arches over the basket; there is no need 
to make it go fast, for as soon as it has safely 
started on its mission it is out of reach. The 
basket hangs ten feet above the ground, and it 
is impossible to prevent a goal after the ball 
has once started up in the air truly. 

There is only one effectual way to block 
this shooting for goal by the forward, and 
that is by reaching up over her head and 
covering the ball and the player's arms from 
above so that it is impossible to make the 
throw in the right direction. But a clever 
forward can often circumvent even such a 



98 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OP SPOBTS 

" cover " by turning quickly and shooting the 
ball up from under her arm. Occasionally this 
is varied by jumping backward out of reach or 
to one side ; indeed, there are so many varia- 
tions possible that the guard is kept constantly 
busy blocking each one. However, the three- 
second rule makes the forward decide at once 
and try quickly for the goal or pass the ball to 
her partner. 

It is the duty of the center, after the ball 
has been faced and put into general play, to 
act B8 intermediate between the guards and the 
forwards of her own team. When an attack 
against her goal has been shut off, and one of 
the guards of her own team has secured the 
ball, it is quickly passed out to the center, 
who in turn passes it on to the forwards of her 
own side, so that they may start an attack of 
their own by trying for a goal. 

The game thus changes with lightning-like 
rapidity, one minute on defense, the next 
ready to attack. The division of the playing- 
field, however, permits only the players in the 
section where the ball is in play to keep up 



BASKETS AT Jj 99 

the constant exertion, and as it is soon passed 
out to a neighboring player in the next sec- 
tion, the scene of action shifts rapidly, as well 
as the kind of play required — defensive or ag- 
gressive. 

These division lines have also another ex- 
cellent effect on the game as modified for 
women to play. They equalize the importance 
of the positions as well as the amount of exer- 
tion required by the girls, and also encourage 
team-play wonderfully. Under the old con- 
ditions one or two star players of a team were 
always allowed to do the goal-throwing, and 
they were kept constantly on the jump from 
one end of the gymnasium or field to the other. 
If they were exceptionally good dodgers the 
ball was always passed to them in preference. 
All of the other members of the team acted 
in a sense as feeders for the star players. 
Now only the girls selected as forwards can do 
the goal-throwing, and they are not permitted 
by the rules to go outside of their own divi- 
sion, so their exertion is reduced to the mini- 
mum when the other side has the ball. 



100 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

Occasionally the center of a team makes a 
long try for a goal from her central division of 
the field, if she has the ball and the other 
members of her team are so closely guarded 
that she can not pass it safely to any of 
them. These tries are seldom successful, as 
the distance is generally too great to make it 
probable that such a throw can be made with 
enough accuracy to go into the basket, which 
is only eight inches larger in diameter than the 
balL In such a case it is the wiser play to 
dribble the ball once or twice until one of 
the partners can get uncovered, and then pass 
it to the forward to try for a goal from her 
more advantageous position. 

The early development of the body, with 
the attendant strengthening of the lungs and 
the heart, is a great advantage to any young 
woman, and American generations of the fu- 
ture will inherit stronger constitutions from 
their mothers because of the increased interest 
in athletic sports among the young women of 
to-day, if only the pitfall of over-indulgence is 
avoided. 



BASKETBALL 101 

That "all work and no play make Jack 
a duU boy" lias never been disputed. Jill 
suffers from the same monotony if her college 
work-days are not lightened by some recrea- 
tion, and basketball is often the most welcome 
"play." 



VII 
PHYSICAL EXERCISE AND DEVELOPMENT 

It is a cause of surprise to many people 
that our American athletic woman of to-day 
lacks much of the rugged health and physical 
endurance of her English cousin, yet the solu- 
tion is not far under ' the surface. Outdoor 
sports among American women are of only 
Lai «loplon, „d comparativdy few of 
them have yet built up the physique that is 
needful for their full enjoyment, although 
we may look for better fitness in our sisters' 
daughters. Physical culture is rapidly be- 
coming as much a part of the curriculum of 
women's schools and colleges as Greek and 
algebra, and the sons as well as the daughters 
of our next generation should have good rea- 
son to thank their mothers for strong consti- 
tutions. Abroad it is different, for English- 

102 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 103 

women have so long been devoted to outdoor 
sports that their physical vigor is now as 
literally "bom in the flesh and bred in the 
bone " as in their brothers. 

Entirely aside from any advantage in 
sports which might be gained, even when 
one does not intend ever to participate in 
them, an active outdoor life is the surest 
method of building up a rugged constitution 
that shall weather all storms and withstand 
fatigue in matters of every-day existence. 
Nature's prescription for good healtli is very 
simple : Fresh air and good food, with plenty 
of exercise to properly assimilate it, correct 
methods of breathing, and the strong develop- 
ment of heart and lungs that is sure to foUow. 

These are what give us the good health to 
laugh at aU ordinary sickness, and the vitelity 
and endurance to throw off any disease that 
may come through contagion. They make the 
physician with his drugs and artificial remedies 
unnecessary. A famous specialist once de- 
clared epigrammatically that the best way to 
avoid sickness was to keep in good healtL 



104 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

Yet, contradictory as tins seems, it is but a 
wise application of the old principle of the 
ounce of prevention and the pound of cure, 
for nine-tenths o:^ aU ordinary illnesses are 
contracted only when the general health of the 
victim is poor, and the vitality low. It gives 
added confidence also to know that the gastric 
juices of a healthy adult will kill the germs 
of almost any contagious disease that can be 
taken through the mouth or stomach. 

It is important that we should know the 
inward workings of the human mechanism in 
order to appreciate what is needed for this 
vigorous health that shall scorn sickness and 
drugs. The human body bears a striking 
similarity to a steam-engine. We take food 
into our stomachs for the same purpose that 
coal is fed into the engine's furnace, and the 
fuel is consumed by ttie digestive apparatus, 
or the fire, as you please. Just as the ma- 
chine gathers power in the form of steam in 
its boiler as a result of the consumption of 
this fuel, so the body stores up energy in its 
muscular tissues and blood, taking from the 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 105 

food certain heat-producing substances that 
furnish energy. 

We use our muscles just as the engine 
does its driving-rods when the engineer turns 
on the steam. The human arteries, which 
correspond to the steam-pipes of an engine, 
carry the stored-up power to the muscles, 
md it U spent ia pLacmg any «*on d 
reeled by L b-smf which 1 tie engineer 
of the body. Just like exhausted steam, the 
spent energy of the body is thrown oflf in the 
form of perspiration, which condenses into 
beads of water on the skin when it reaches 
the cooler air. After it has done its work, 
the blood is hurried back to the heart through 
the veins — smaller steam-pipes leading back 
to the engine-boiler — ^is there heated afresh, 
purified by the oxygen of the air taken in by 
the lungs, and, charged once more with new 
energy for the muscles, is pumped out again 
on its round of the body. 

Stop feeding the body with the proper 
kind of energy-producing foods, or give it 
only poorer fuel, and the muscles will gradu- 



106 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOETS 

ally lose their power and usefulness, just as the 
engine would weaken and finally stop from ex- 
haustion if poor coal or none at all were stoked 
into its furnace. To get all the good out 
of the coal and keep up a good pressure 
of steam, the engineer insists on a strong 
draft in his furnace, and those who study 
the workings of the human body find the 
same need for a strong draft in the lungs 
and plenty of exercise to make the digestion 
do its work thoroughly. 

The parallel holds good throughout, and 
the body requires as constant care and close 
attention as the delicately adjusted steam- 
engine. Stop breathing fresh air and plenty 
of it, and the digestion will get out of order 
and work as badly as an engine-fire without 
the proper draft; stop using the muscles 
regularly, and they wiU grow as rusty as the 
unused driving-rods of the idle engine ; cut a 
vein or artery, and the energy will drip out 
and weaken the power of the body as quickly 
as a leaking steam-pipe in the engine. 

It seems almost unnecessary to prescribe 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 107 

exercise in the open air for one who is look- 
ing only for health and physical development. 
Merely to move about energetically and breathe 
deeply is often enough. Competitive sports 
lend an additional interest that robs exertion 
of its effort, but walking, horseback riding, bi- 
cycling, rowing, swimming, and scores of other 
recreations furnish excellent exercise in the 
open air with beneficial effects. If one wants 
the competitive interest of a game, without 
the physical severity of violent action, goK 
wiU be found perhaps the best exercise, for 
it lures on the devotee to almost unlimited 
healthful exertion with an interest and variety 
that distract attention from fatigue, whUe it 
is never violent, and can seldom be injurious, 
as is possible with most other sports when 
overdone. 

Lavm-tennis is very severe, and basketball 
scarcely less so. For fast play each requires 
a strong physique, with good development of 
heart and lungs, and either might be injurious 
if carried to excess. At no time during a 
game of tennis does the player have a chance 

8 



108 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

to rest, and all parts of the body and limbs 
are brought into rapid action that keeps the 
muscles busy and the heart working at high 
pressure. The same is true of basketball, 
which is almost as severe, and which has 
not always the open-air surroundings in its 
favor. 

Bicycling, sailing, swimming, skating, fenc- 
ing, and bowling, while they lack the interest 
of the competitive games, aU furnish healthful 
exercise in much variety ; but of these, again, 
two are always practised indoors, and so the 
advantage of fresh air is lost. Swimming, 
particularly in salt water, however, is in many 
ways the most healthful of all sports, for 
its surroundings are so beneficial The body 
throws off many of its impurities in the per- 
spiration that follows physical exertion, and 
in the water these are instantly washed away, 
instead of being allowed to dry on the skin, 
as is too often the case. Salt is also known 
to be very strengthening, and the body ab- 
sorbs much of it in sea-bathing. 

For any one who is fond of outdoor life, 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 109 

exercise comes naturally in summer; it is in 
the winter, when we spend so much of our 
time indoors, that artificial interest in exercis- 
ing must be kept up, else it will become tire- 
some. In one's own home sports are gener- 
ally impracticable, but physical development 
should not be neglected because no gymnasium 
is convenient. The simplest forms of callis- 
ttenics, if systematicaUy practised, offer aa 
beneficial exercise as any of the regular gym- 
nasium drills. Indian clubs and dumb-bells 
can be supplemented with one of the familiar 
" exercisers." These are very simple, just two 
grips for the hands^ attached to cords run- 
ning through pulleys fastened against the wall, 
the pressure being supplied either by elastic 
cables or weights. The simplest of these ex- 
ercising appliances can be hooked to a nail in 
the door-frame and put out of sight when not 
in use. 

For many of the muscles, however, just as 
much benefit can be gained from the same mo- 
tions without the power attachments. Noth- 
ing furnishes better exercise for the legs, for 



110 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

instance, than simply lowering and lifting the 
weight of the body by bending the knees. 

Chest- weights or "exercisers" are very 
good for the arms and upper body muscles, 
but Indian clubs, dumb-bells and callisthenics 
give the same effect, if properly used. One 
thing should always be borne in mind: Lift- 
ing or swinging heavy weights is not good ex- 
ercise. It is very much better to lift two 
pounds fifty times than fifty pounds twice. 
Indian clubs and dumb-bells should always be 
very light, never more than two pounds each 
for a woman, and preferably only one. 

It is a good plan to have a regular hour 
eaxjh day for exercise and never to skip it. 
Before breakfast in the morning is perhaps the 
best hour for this, but just before going to bed 
is also a good time, providing it does not keep 
one up too late. Half an hour both morning 
and night is even better than a whole hour at 
either end of the day. Insomnia and sleepless- 
ness have often been cured by vigorous exer- 
cise just before retiring. The blood settles in 
a tired brain, and vigorous use of the muscles 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT HI 

draws it off to other parts of the body, induc- 
ing quieter rest. It quiets the nerves, too, 
after excitement, so that sleep follows quickly. 

If one is preparing for any particular sport, 
a special course of exercise should be mapped 
out and followed closely. If it is bicycling, or 
tennis, or golf, or some other outdoor game 
that begins in the spring, it is. weU to start 
work two months before the season opens. 
The muscles that require most attention for 
both strength and endurance are those of the 
anns, legs, and back. 

Dipping the body down by bending the 
knees and then raising it again with the leg 
muscles is the best training for the upper parts 
of the legs, and this can well be combined for 
strengthening the calves by rising first on the 
toes and then dipping down and up again, 
while the feet are still in this position. This 
formula should be followed until the muscles 
are tired, counting the number of times and in- 
creasing the length of the exercise by five or 
ten dips each day. 

A splendid exercise for the arms, chest, and 



112 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

back is to stretcli the arms out straiglit at tlie 
sides liorizoiitally, then bend them round in 
front of the body till the outstretched palms 
touch each other, and finally swing them 
around the full half circle quickly, still at 
their full length, till they touch again behind 
the back, as high up back of the shoulders as 
possible. 

A good combination of the two, and per- 
haps the best of all callisthenic exercises, is 
begun by standing upright with the anns 
straight at the sides ; then rise on the toes and 
dip the body till the fingers touch the floor at 
either side ; raise the body again, bringing the 
arms out straight at the sides as it comes up ; 
then bring the palms together in front, and 
end with the swing that touches them behind 
the back, rising again on the toes as they 
swing back, and dropping back to the heels as 
the arms complete the whole exercise by com- 
ing back to the sides again. 

This should be repeated until the muscles 
all feel tired, which should take longer each 
day. If some of the muscles tire before the 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 113 

others, the part of the exercise that brings 
those into play can be left out and the rest 
continued till all are equally fatigued. These 
callisthenics open the chest, allowing more 
room for the lungs to expand, and develop the 
muscles of the legs, arms, sides, and back. If 
practised rapidly they will soon make the heart 
beat fast and the lungs breathe deep. 

All of these exercises simply lead up to 
the physical development that insures good 
health. Health is the first and most impor- 
tant consideration with us all, and good food 
is the first requisite for good health, then 
proper breathing to digest the food. We 
must exercise to use the energy the food pro- 
duces, and this develops the heart and lungs, 
which are needed to purify the blood and then 
pump it through the body. If we go on eat- 
ing and do not exercise, the stored-up energy 
soon produces abnormal fat ; and if we go on 
exercising and do not eat nutritious foods, we 
grow thinner, as the muscles work off the 
stored-up power until it is all wasted. Some 
people also grow thinner because the digestion 



114 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

does not assimilate the food properly, and 
physical exercise taken systematically will 
generally correct this. 

Plenty of restful sleep is also essential to 
good health, for the tired heart and working 
muscles demand it. Sleep refreshes the mind 
and nerves, but we should always rest flat on 
the back, because this position relieves the 
heart from the strain of pumping back up 

« 

from the feet the continuous stream of blood 
returning uphill through the veins; the hori- 
zontal position of the body when lying down 
makes this much less eflfort. 

The lungs of most women, particularly 
those who lead sedentarv lives in our cities, 
suffer from a lack of robust use. They are too 
seldom expanded to their full extent or in the 
right direction. Outdoor sports and outdoor 
exercise — even indoor exercise in a lesser de- 
gree — force the lungs to breathe fast and deep, 
and their constant vigorous use soon develops 
and expands them until their power and ca- 
pacity are very much increased. The lungs 
should swell up high in the chest as they are 



PHiraiCAL DEVELOPMENT 115 

inflated, never downward against the stomach, 
for this interferes with digestion. A woman 
should exercise as little as possible anyway- 
right after hearty eating, but if she does have 
to breathe heavUy immediately after a meal, 
and uses her lungs improperly, indigestion wiU 
soon follow. 

In the absence of physical exercise-when 
the muscles are not called upon for any vigor- 
ous eflEort — the heart's action is seldom quick- 
ened, and only then are the lungs required to 
breathe deep and fast, in order to purify all 
the blood that the muscles demand. This ex- 
plains why people who take no exercise often 
develop congestion in the unused lower parts 
of the limgs, which in the end too often runs 
into consumption. Constant physical exercise 
from youth up is an almost sure preventive 
(though not a cure) of consumption. 

There is another important reason why sys- 
tematic physical exercise of one kind or an- 
other should appeal to every woman under 
forty, and many who have long passed the 
meridian of life. Feminine beauty in both 



116 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

face and figure is largely dependent upon it, 
and if thin women and fat women, ugly women 
and plain-looking women, could only be made 
to realize tliis, many figures and faces would 
be much improved. 

Alcohol should be used, like all drugs and 
medicines, aa sparingly as possible. It is an 
unnatural stimulant of the most powerful 
strength, and leaves the body weaker after its 
effect has worn off. The physical injury of 
alcoholic intemperance is as great as its moral 
effect, and there is as much danger in the in- 
temperate use of drugs and medicines as of al- 
cohoL Every time a drug is used to correct 
some fault of the body, the organ affected be- 
comes a shade less self-reliant; and if any 
stimulant to nature be used too often, the dose 
must soon be increased to have the desired 
effect. Soon nature begins to rely on artificial 
help, and the organs often refuse to properly 
perform their duties unaided. 

For almost aU irregularities, nature finds her 
own remedy without help if permitted to do 
so. A strain, a broken bone, a cut, or bruised 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 117 

flesh will all heal naturally if not interfered 
with; and when we say a disease has run its 
course, we mean simply that nature has found 
her own remedy and has finally conquered the 
body's enemy. Let alcohol and drugs alone; 
let nature be her own physician as often as 
possible, and when real sickness does come, 
if it ever does, a small dose of medicine will 
have as mucli effect as many times the qtian- 
tity if the body has become accustomed to 
drugs. 

The effect of competitive sports where the 
player becomes excited is beneficial in the long 
run to the nerves as well as to the heart and 
lungs. Excitement makes the blood throb up 
into the head, and ike brain grows dizzy and 
reels when one is not accustomed to such ex- 
citement. When a young woman plays any 
match game for the first time under excite- 
ment, she will probably be unable to do her 
best because of the confusion in her mind — 
because she gets " rattled.'' Let her stick to 
it, however, and soon the nerves, heart, and 
brain will have become accustomed to this 



118 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

strain, and at the critical time, when every- 
thing depends on the success of a single play, 
the nerves will not fail her, the mind will re- 
main clear, and her coolness and steadiness will 
save the day. 

The effect of this training can not fail to be 
of service in the more serious affairs of life, 
and when the crucial moment arrives, possibly 
involving life and death, the cool head, trained 
muscles, and vigorous heart action that are the 
product of physical development and participa- 
tion in sports wUl prove of priceless value. 
Imagine a woman who has taken part in sports 
all her life, who has played golf matches, or 
tennis matches, or sailed in boat races, or swam 
in races ; put her alongside a sister who has 
not had the benefit of this steadying experience. 
Imagine the two caught in a burning buUding, 
with the only chance for safety to climb down 
a narrow ladder through many yards of dizzy 
space; or thrown out of a boat with a long 
swim before them for safety. 

One will keep cool under the stress of ex- 
citement because she has become accustomed 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 119 

to it, and her coolness will cany her safely 
through either ordeal, to say nothing of the 
help her muscular strength will be to her. 
With the weaker sister it would be a different 
story: she would soon become overwrought 
with excitement, and her nerves would become 
unstrung if her muscles did not fail her. She 
would probably become giddy from the ex- 
citement and danger, and, missing her hold on 
the ladder, fall to the ground, or get a cramp 
in the water and sink many yards from 
shore. 

Teach any young girl to enjoy outdoor 
sports ; encourage her to exercise in the open 
air, to become used to the strain of physical 
exercises and to the excitement of races and 
matches, and you will build up the very vital 
organs she will need in after life. When 
steady nerves are necessary, when a powerful 
heart or lungs are needed, she will be pre- 
pared. Put her on the ladder outside of the 
burning building or in the water with a long 
swim for safety, and her trained muscles and 
experience under excitement will bring her out 



120 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

of danger ; when she Ues in the shadow of 
death from sickness or accident, her physical 
strength and endurance will pull her back out 
of danger while a weaker sister's light would 
flicker and flicker, and finally go out 



VIII 
MEN'S SPOETS FEOM A WOMAN'S VIEWPOINT 

Nothing can be less satisfactory than to sit 
among the spectators at any game of sport and 
not understand what is going on in the field. 
Something happens among the players, and 
those on every hand, appreciating the impor- 
tance of the play, instantly clap or cheer en- 
thusiastically ; but the poor woman is utterly 
miserable who must ask at every fresh outburst 
of applause, " Now what are they doing with 
the ball ? " or sit in Egyptian darkness wonder- 
ing what it is all about Her position is made 
one degree worse if she has not the courage to 
confess her ignorance, or her escort has not the 
patience to explain. 

It often takes a keen insight into the in- 
tricacies of football, for instance, to understand 
the cause of all the excitement and enthusiasm 

121 



122 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

at difEerent points in the progress of an im- 
portant college match, but a superficial knowl- 
edge of the game will do much to make the 
uninitiated spectator enjoy the play and imder- 
stand what is going on in most cases. 

In such men's sports, which are too rough 
or physically too severe for women to take part 
in, it is no wonder that they do not often un- 
derstand all of the technicalities. Men learn 
such games from actual participation, as a rule, 
rather than from the view of a spectator ; and 
from sheer love of sport, they often study them 
for years before they have gained a complete 
mastery of aU their technical details. 

For women who go to see the big college 
games as spectacles rather than as sports, who 
enjoy the excitement of the thousands of cheer- 
ing voices and the infection of college enthusi- 
asm, but to whom the play seems aU Greek, 
this chapter may be of value. Its purpose 
is to explain briefly the inward workings of 
the sports which men enjoy, so that any 
woman who goes to see a football game, a base- 
ball game, a boat-race, a yachting regatta, or 



FOOTBALL 123 

athletic contests, may watch the sport intelli- 
gently, and, nnderstaading the play, enjoy it 
the more. 

FOOTBALL 

College football, as played in America, is 
probably the most popular with women of all 
men's sports, although its seaaon is confined to 
the eight or ten weeks between the opening of 
the colleges in September and Thanksgiving 
Day. It was originally called Eugby football 
because it was modeled after the game played 
at the English school of that name, but the 
sport has since been so completely altered over 
here that it now differs widely from any of the 
three styles of football played abroad — ^Rugby, 
Association, and Gaelic. 

The American game is played on a rec 
tangular field 330 feet iq length and 160 feet 
in width. This playing field is surrounded by 
white lines painted on the turf, inside of which 
are other parallel lines across the surface and 
extending its whole length at intervals of five 
yards, but their only purpose is to help the 
officials in measuring distances. 



124 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

The appearance they lend to the field has 
given rise to the popular habit of calling it 
a " gridiron." Three of the lines are heavier 
than the others, and these are placed, one in 
the middle of the field and the other two at 25 
yards each from the goal-lines at either end. 

These goal-lines are the end boundaries of 
the field, and in the center at each end stands a 
goal, which is made by two posts 20 feet high 
and 18i feet apart, with a crossbar spread 
between them at a height of 10 feet from 
the ground. 

A goal is scored when the ball is kicked 
through these goal-posts and over the crossbar, 
but this play can be made only with a drop- 
kick or a place-kick, never with a punt. 
Punting is the easiest method of advancing 
the ball, and it is done by dropping the ball 
from the player's hands and kicking it before 
it touches the ground. 

A drop-kick, which is generally used for 
aU goals from the field — those kicked while 
play is in progress — ^is made by dropping the 
ball from the hands and kicking it as it rises 



FOOTBALL 125 

from the ground; for a place-kick tke ball 
is held in place on the ground by one player 
and kicked by another. A goal kicked from 
the field counts five points for the side making 
the play. 

It is also possible to score at football in 
two other ways — by a touch-down, or by a 
safety. If the baU is carried over the goal-line 
and touched down to the ground in the hands 
of an opposing player, it is a touch-down, and 
counts four points for his side. If a player 
carries, passes, or kicks the ball back over 
his own goal-Une and it is touched down there 
by one of his own team, it becomes a safety, 
and counts against his side and two points for 
the opponents. 

After a touch-down, the side making it 
has the right to try without interference to 
kick a goal from a distance of fifteen yards 
outside the goal-line and in front of where 
the ball was touched down. If the trial is 
successful, the goal adds one more point to the 
score of the side making it. 

The game is won by the team making the 



126 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

most points in a given space of time, the full 
length of a championship game being two 
halves of thirty-five minutes each, vrith an 
intermission between them of ten minutes. In 
computing the playing time, the officiak take 
out time wasted by waiting when one of the 
players is hurt, when any dispute arises, or 
when the game is delayed for any other reason. 
Between the downs, however, no time is taken 
out unless the delay is extraordinary. 

The object of the game is to carry or kick 
the ball down toward the opponent's goal, and 
to kick it through the goal-posts or carry it 
over the goal-line and touch it down. The 
players are always allowed to kick the ball 
in any direction they please, and to carry it 
when running. They may not throw or pass 
it forward (toward the antagonists' goal, that 
is), but they are allowed to pass or throw it 
backward toward their own goal as much as 
they please. 

When the ball touches the ground with a 
player on top of it, he cries "Down," and it 
is dead on that spot until put into play again 



FOOTBALL 127 

by the (jenter-ruslier after the next line-up. 
During this time, while it is out of play, the 
ball can not be moved, and the next play be- 
gins with it in possession of the team whose 
player held it when it was downed. 

The ball is also out of play the instant it 
rolls or is carried beyond the side-line at either 
edge of the field, and belongs to the team 
whose player first touches it to the ground; 
but when it is kicked out of bounds, it goes to 
the opposite side without interference, and in 
all such cases the ball is brought in fifteen 
yards from the edge and put in play again as 
usual by the center, directly opposite where it 
crossed the side-line. 

When a team gets possession of the ball, it 
is called a first down, and the spot at which 
this down occurs is marked by the linesmen at 
the sides of the field by sticking a marker into 
the ground opposite it. From this point, the 
team having the ball is required to advance 
with it a total of at least five yards or retreat 
as much as twenty yards in the next three at- 
tempts, and if they fail to do so they must sur- 



128 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOETS 

render the ball on the spot of the fourth down 
to the opponents. If the first attempt does not 
carry the ball forward or backward the re- 
quired distance, the next is called the second 
down; another failure brings a third down; 
but a third failure makes it a first down 
for the antagonists with possession of the ball, 
instead of a fourth down for the unsuccessful 
team which failed to gain its five yards. 

If, however, the required distance is cov- 
ered in any of the three attempts or in two or 
three of them combined, a new series is begun 
at once, the next becomes a first down again, 
and the linesmen make a new mark at once 
without waiting for the completion of the pre- 
vious series. • 

Because of this restriction, which prevents 
holding the ball without making progress, it is 
customary for a team to kick the ball down 
the field and so gain thirty or forty yards, 
when two attempts have been wasted and the 
captain does not think it likely that the third 
will gain the necessary distance. Modem foot- 
ball has become so much stronger in defense 



FOOTBALL 129 

than attack that good teams are constantly 
stopped in tliis way, and mucli kicking of the 
ball is the result, even when the goal is out 
of reach and no attempt to kick the ball 
through the posts is intended. Punting like 
this advances the ball in big jumps and saves 
the runners when they are tired. 

Should one of these kicks, or a wide-kicked 
ball trying for a goal, go over the goal-line of 
the other team, a player of that side touches 
the ball down to the ground and the play be- 
comes a touch-back. After this the side in 
possession of the ball is entitled to take the 
ball out twenty-five yards from its goal-line 
and put it in play there by kicking it up the 
field or passing it to a player to run with. A 
touch-back does not count anything in the 
score. 

When the ball lies on the ground after a 
fumble, which is when it is dropped by acci- 
dent, any player may pick it up and run with 
it until he is tackled and stopped ; but after 
a kick, all of the players on the same team 
as the kicker are off-side and can not touch 



130 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

the ball until after one of the opponents has 
touched it or it has touched one of them, 
when the off-side players are all put on-side 
again. 

Any player who is ahead of the ball when 
it is being put in play is also off-side, so the 
lines of rushers on the two sides are always par- 
allel with each other and with the lines of the 
field, while the ball rests in the center between 
the opposing center-rushers. There are several 
penalties provided to punish a team whose 
players get ahead of the ball when it is being 
put in play, the most frequent being a penalty 
of five yards for off-side play. 

There are eleven players on each team, 
seven of whom are known as rushers or line- 
men, and they compose what is known as the 
rush-line, because they line up opposite the 
ball before each play. The middle man in 
the line is called the center-rusher; those on 
either side of him are known as the right and 
left guards ; just outside of them are the right 
and left tackles, and at the extreme ends of 
the rush-line are the right and left ends. It is 



FOOTBALL 131 

the duty of these seven rushers to help the 
backs behind them to advance the ball, and to 
prevent the players of the other side from 
advancing it in the opposite direction. 

The other four players on the team are 
known as the backs, their positions being the 
quarter-back, the right and left half-backs and 
the fuU-back. It is the principal work of the 
quarter-back to take the ball from the center's 
hands at the beginning of nearly every play 
and pass it to one of the other men of his 
team to kick or to run with. 

n it is intended to kick the ball, it is gen- 
erally passed to the full-back, who is protect- 
ed from interference from his opponents by 
his own rushers and the other backs of his 
own team in front of him; and if it is in- 
tended to carry the ball, it is generally passed 
to one of the half-backs for this purpose. 

The quarter-back also gives the signals, 
which are generally a series of figures in a 
cipher form to tell all of the other players 
of his team what the next play is to be with- 
out letting the opponents know, for modem 



132 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

football is so mucli of a team game tliat all of 
the eleven players have positions assigned to 
them for every play, so as to be of the most 
possible use in helping the runner or kicker to 
advance the balL 

In recent years many new plays have been 
introduced into the game, by which the full- 
back often carries the ball, although he was 
originally intended only to do the kicking ; and 
most of the rushers are also permitted at times 
to run with it, the tackles being used most 
often for this purpose. Occasionally, even the 
quarter-back himself carries the ball, but he 
can do this only after a double pass, for the 
rules prevent his advancing the ball untU it 
has been passed to some other player, who in 
turn must pass it back to the quarter. 

It is the duty of all the other players to 
help a runner as well as a kicker, for the man 
who carries the ball must' be protected from 
being tackled and downed by an opponent, 
and for this purpose lie is generaUy sur- 
rounded by many of his own team, who run 
along with him, forming what is caUed the 



BASEBALL 133 

" interference," because they interfere with the 
opponents who try to tackle their comrade. 

BASEBALL 

BasebaD, whether played by professionals 
or amateurs, is always the same game, for there 
are no variations in the rules of play. It is 
an interesting game to watch, jiecause the play 
is so open and it is so much less difficult to 
follow the ball than in football. 

It is played on a field, generally spoken of 
as a " diamond " from the pattern it presents, 
on which are four bases, located at the 
points of the diamond-shaped infield. Each 
base is 90 feet from the next, and all but the 
home base are stuffed bags strapped to the 
ground to keep them in place. The home 
base, or "plate," as it is often called, is a 
square of metal or stone set in the ground. 
The other three bases are numbered, being 
first, second, and third respectively, beginning 
with that on the right of the home base as 
you face the field. A run is scored when a 
player runs around the full circuit of these 



134 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOETS 

four bases, touchmg each in turn without be- 
ing put out. 

The game is scored by runs, and the vic- 
tory goes to the team which makes the greater 
number of them in a period of nine innings. 
An inning lasts until three men have been 
put out by the opponents, and the teams alter- 
nate taking innings until each has had nine. 
The object of the game then is for the side 
which is in, or at the bat, to score as many 
runs as possible without being put out; and 
for the side that is out, or in the field, to pre- 
vent the opponents from making runs and to 
put them out. 

A player is put out when he misses three 
strikes (if the last one is caught by the oppos- 
ing catcher), or when any baU he has batted 
is caught before it touches the ground; or 
after it has touched the ground, when one of 
the opponents with it in his hands touches 
first base before he has reached there. 

When running bases, a player can be put 
out by being touched with the ball in the 
hands of an opponent whenever he is caught 



BASEBALL 135 

between bases; but lie can not be put out 
when lie is touching any of them, each of 
which is a' point of safety, like the "hunk" 
which is so familiar in children's games. 

The batter is required to run when he hits 
a fair ball, and if, in doing so, he forces an- 
other of his team off first base, the latter must 
run to second for safety ; and if he in turn 
forces another off second, and he stDl another 
off third, each must run to the next base for 
safety, and then it is not necessary to touch 
one of them with the ball to put him out; 
if an opponent, with the ball in his hands, 
touches the base to which any player forced 
off base is running, before he arrives there, he 
is out without being touched. 

When the game starts, one side (decided 
by lot) is in the field and the other at the bat, 
taking its first inning. The players take turns 
at batting, the original order of the team being 
preserved throughout the game, and the man 
up standing close to the home plate waiting 
to hit the ball. The opposing pitcher delivers 
the ball, and the batter strikes at it or not, as 



136 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

he pleases. If the ball passes over the home 
plate and between the height of the knee and 
shoulder, it is called a strike, even if the batter 
does not try to hit it. If its direction is poor 
and the batter does not strike at it, it is called 
abaU. 

The batter is allowed three strikes or 
chances to hit the ball, and if he fails to hit 
any of the balls he strikes at (including any 
called strikes for good balls he refuses), he is 
out, providing the opposing catcher holds the 
ball after the third strike. If he muffs it, the 
batter may run to first base, and is not out 
unless an opponent with the baU. in his hands 
touches him or the base before he reaches it 

But there are also restrictions on the 
pitcher as well as the man at the bat. He is 
required to deliver the ball within reach of the 
batter, so the latter may have a chance to hit 
it. If he pitches four poor balls to any bats- 
man before the latter is out or has reached 
first base in safety, then the batter is allowed 
to take first base without interference. This 
is called giving him a base on balls. 



BASEBALL 137 

Now, if the batter succeeds in Htting the 
ball, it is a fair ball if the direction it takes 
is toward the field of play, which is bounded 
by straight lines runig from home base 
througlL first and third bases ; but sbonld the 
ball go off farther to either side or behind, it 
is a foul ball, and the batter is not allowed to 
run. Under the latest rules these foul balls 
count as strikes unless caught before they 
touch the ground by one of the opponents, 
when the batter is out in consequence. After 
there are two strikes against a batter, a foul 
ball that is not caught counts as nothing, how- 
ever. A foul tip is made when the bat just 
touches the ball without altering its direc- 
tion, and it counts as a strike if caught by the 
catcher, or nothing at all if he misses it. 

When a fair ball has been hit safely, the 
batter instantly becomes a base-runner, and he 
runs to first base. If it is impossible for the 
opponents to put him out before he reaches 
there, his play is called a base-hit ; if he safely 
secures two bases without error on the other 
side, it is a two-base-hit, or a " two-bagger " ; if 



138 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

tliree bases, then a three-base-liit or a " three- 
bagger " ; and if he hits the ball so far that he 
makes the complete circuit of the bases before 
his opponents can secure the ball and stop off 
his career, it is called a home run. 

Once safely on any of the bases, the runner 
can progress to the next at any time during the 
play (with one or two other technical excep 
tions) but on a foul ball, or on a fair ball 
that is caught on the fly by an opponent. If 
a fly-baU is muffed by the fielder, the base- 
runner is at liberty to run, or after it has been 
cught le is free^pm. If h, Btarto while 
the ball is in the air, and it is finally caught 
by an opponent, the base-runner must return 
to his former base before he can go on again ; 
he is out if an opponent with the ball touches 
the base he left before he gets back there. At 
all other times in the game the base-runner 
may run at his discretion. He is stealing a 
base if he tries to run on any play but a 
batted ball or an error of the opponents. If 
he is headed off before he can reach the base 
he is trying for, he is always at Kberty to re- 



BASEBALL 189 

tarn to that lie left, unless some otlier run- 
ner has since occupied it; but once having 
touched a base, he can never go back to the 
one before. 

If the team which has the last turn at Hie 
bat is ahead in the score when the opponents 
are all out in their ninth inning, the leading 
team does not take its last inning, for the game 
is already won. When the score is tied at the 
end of the ninth inning, extra innings are 
played until one side is ^ead in runs ft the 
end of an even number of innings. 

There are nine players on each team, di- 
vided into the batteiy, the infield, andf the 
outfield. The battery consists of the pitcher 
and catcher, and they are the most important 
men on the team, as they handle the baU most 
of the time. 

The infield includes four players : the first- 
baseman, second-baseman, and third-baseman, 
whose duty it is to guard the bases after which 
they are named, and the short-stop, whose po- 
sition is about midway between second and 
third bases, where he is expected to stop 

10 



140 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

grounders or low-batted balls, many of wHch 
bound along the ground in that direction. 

The outfield includes the left-fielder, the 
center-fielder, and the right-fielder, and their 
duties are to catch fly-balls that are batted out 
of the reach of the infielders, and to stop 
bounding balls and throw them in to the base- 
men to put out the opposing runners. 

TAOHT-BAOING 

Yacht-racing is in many ways the most 
difficult of all sports to watch, because of the 
speed and the distances traversed by the con- 
tending boats, and the difficulty of following 
them. For the international races for the 
Americans Cup, there are hosts of steamers 
that always follow the racers, and many thou- 
sands of spectators are able to watch them 
from one end of the course to the other. 

At some of the less important regattas 
of the yacht-clubs, spectators have opportu- 
nities to see the races from the shore, or to 
follow the yachts in passenger-boats provided 
for the purpose. The sport is full of techni- 



YAOHT-RACma 141 

calities that one slioiild understand to fully 
appreciate it, however. 

Bacing yachts are divided into classes, 
according to their size and rig, and priizes are 
offered for each class in most regattaa, so 
that yachts race almost exclusively against 
others of their own type and size, although 
all may be sailing over the course at the same 
time. 

The smallest racing boats are catboatsy 
seldom over 25 feet in length, and with a 
single mast and one sail. Then come sloop- 
rigged yachts — ^those with one mast and two 
or more sails ; and there are many classes for 
this rig, varying all the way from a 15.foot 
open jib-and-mainsail boat to the big "single- 
stickers " or cutters that race for the America's 
Cup, which are in the 90-foot class. 

Besides the catboats and the sloop-rigged 
yachts, there are also schooners, which are 
vessels with two masts and many sails, and 
knockabouts, a new class of small yachts de- 
signed for combined cruising and racing. 
These knockabouts carry only two sails — 



148 THE WOMAira BOOK OF SPORTS 

mainsail and foresail. By far the lai^est part 
of the y^^htraciBg, however, i» 2^ the 
dooprigged yachte. 

The length of a racing yacht is really her 
racing length, which differs somewhat accord- 
ing to the club rule under which she is sail- 
ing. It is generally determined by an intri- 
cate calculation worked out from her water- 
line length, wHcli is tlie actual length of her 
hull on the water line, and her sail area^ which 
is figured from the number of square feet of 
canvas she can spread. The formula for this 
calculation of racing length varies somewhat 
in different clubs, but is almost invariably 
computed from these two dimensions. 

In all yacht-racing, handicaps are allowed 
by the larger to the smaller boats at the rate 
of so many seconds per mile for every foot 
of difference in their racing length. This 
allowance is figured after the race is all over, 
so that the boat which crosses the finish-line 
first does not always win first prize, by any 
means, particularly if the finish is close and 
the larger boat comes in first. 



YACHT-EACINa 143 

The starting time is subtracted from the 
time at the finish, and the difference gives 
the actual or elapsed time required to cover 
the course, from which is subtracted the time 
allowance or handicap, and this gives the final 
result of the race in corrected time, from which 
the order of the competing yachts is decided. 

The courses in a regatta often vary, being 
shorter for the smaller boats than for the 
big fellows. They are indicated by marks in 
the water, buoys or boats anchored for that 
purpose at announced points, and the racing 
yachts are required to turn around them in 
the order given. Most regatta courses are 
laid out in a triangular or other odd shape, 
so that all of the sailing qualities of a racing 
yacht can be tested. Over a triangular course, 
no matter from which direction the wind 
blows, there is pretty certain to be a good 
variety of sailing. 

Some races, particularly in the interna* 
tional series, are sailed over windward-and- 
leeward coiu-ses, and in such cases the cpurse 
to be sailed is measured parallel with the 



144 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

direction of the wind for a certain distance 
(fifteen miles in the big international races), 
and a stake-boat anchored at the turning- 
point for the boats to go around. The racers 
have to go to windward, or beat against the 
wind, for half the distance, and then reverse 
the style of sailing for the other half, and run 
before it. 

These two points of sailing — ^beating and 
running — are considered the most important 
racing qualities of a yacht, although most 
yachts are fastest of all in reaching, which is 
the third cardinal point of a yachf s method 
of locomotion. To reach is to sail across the 
wind, such a course being a close reach or a 
broad reach, according to whether the yacht is 
heading up somewhat close to the direction 
from which the wind comes, or well away 
from it. 

Eacing yachts are started from an imagi- 
nary starting line drawn between two points, 
generally the anchored referee's boat and some 
other boat, or some buoy or fixed mark on 
shore. The starting signal is the firing of a 



YACHT-EACING 145 

cannon, and in most cases a given time (from 
two to five minutes) is allowed for the boats 
to cross this line. The actual second at which 
they do cross is theu taken as the starting 
time, unless they cross after the second gun, 
when they are timed as though they had 
crossed when it was fired at the end of the 
specified time allowed for the start. In races 
safled with a one-gun start, a single gun is 
fired a certain number of minutes after the 
preparatoiy signal, and tiiat time is taken as 
the starting time for all, no matter how soon 
or how long after it is before they actually do 
cross the line. 

Much jockeying, either before the start 
or during the race, generally goes on for the 
windward position, .which is always prefer- 
able, because the sails of one yacht to wind- 
ward of another get the wind first, and if she 
is close enough and directly in front of the 
other, she blankets the rival's sails, taking 
some of the wind out of them, and slowing 
up her speed in consequence. This is per- 
fectly legitimate, the only restrictions being 



146 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

tliat one boat sliall not approacli another close 
enough to make it possible for their rigging 
to become fouled or their hulls to be in danger 
of touching in any way. 

When two boats are approaching each 
other, the law requires that the one sailing 
closest to the wind— that is, whose course 
is laid nearest to the compass direction from 
which the wind is coming— shaU have the 
right of way, and the other must steer out of 
her way; or when both are equally close to 
the wind, a vessel on the port tack must give 
way for another on the starboard tack, if there 
is danger of fouling; or a yacht overhauling 
or overtaking another must keep clear of the 
boat ahead. If sailing parallel and both on 
the same tack, the windward boat must not 
bear down close enough to the other to make a 
foul possible, but she can come close enough 
to steal away her wind and slow down her 
speed, so the windward position is very valu- 
able. 

The object of racing yachts is simply to 
cover the specified course in less time than 



The sails of a raciag yadit 



YACHT-RACma 147 

others against wHcli they are racing. There 
are no restrictions as to how a boat shall sail 
or what sails she shall carry. She can set all 
the eaav^ that her spa,s3 rigging wiJl sup- 
port. A good skipper increases his sail in a 
light breeze as much as possible, and he short- 
ens it in a heavy wind only enough to keep his 
boat from heeling or tipping over too far to 
travel fast. 

The ordinary sails of a large slooprigged 
yacht are (see cut of yacht on opposite page) 
the mainsail (1), the fore-staysail (2), the jib 
(3), the topsail (4), and the jib-topsail (5 
shows the stay on which it is set) ; but if she 
is a smaller boat, say under 50 feet, she will 
probably not carry any topsails. The mainsail 
is always used, but it can be reefed for a very 
heavy wind by folding away some of ite canvas 
under ropes or reef-points at the lower edge 
close to the boom, and raising only part of 
it. The staysail (which is the customary ab- 
breviation for the fore-staysail, although it is 
sometimes referred to as a foresail in single- 
masted boats) and the jib are almost always 



148 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOETS 

used unlcBS sailing before the wind, when they 
are often taken in. These three are known as 
the lower sails. 

The topsail and jib-topsail are set when- 
ever the wind is Ught enough to carry them, 
and often a club-topsaU is set in phice of the 
former. This spreads much more canvas in 
the same place by using a yard and a club 
— ^two long spars attached to its edges — to 
stretch the canvas out far beyond the reach 
of the mast and gaff, the spars on which the 
ordinary or gaff-topsail is supported. The 
biggest sloops and cutters also carry a niun- 
ber of differenl^sized jib-topsails, any of which 
can be set on the same stay (5), and they are 
varied according to the strength of the wind, 
the smallest being the baby-jib-topsaU and the 
others ranging in size. No. 1, No. 2, etc., up to 
the enormous balloon-jib-topsail. 

Now, when a big sloop-rigged yacht is sail- 
ing before the wind, there is practically no 
chance for her to tip over, and every possible 
square foot of canvas that she can spread in- 
creases her speed. For this purpose she has 



YAOHT-RACINa 149 

a great loose balloon sail like tlie balloon-jib- 
topsail; called the spinnaker, wbicli she can set 
on tlie opposite side from her mainsail This 
huge sail, the biggest ever employed by a 
racing yacht, is stretched from the topmost 
point of the mast to the deck and thrust out 
far over the water on a boom or heavy spar 
pushed out from the mast like an arm to hold 
its bottom edge away from the boat. 

With this spinnaker is generally used the 
baUoon-jib-topsail before the mast to catch any 
™a flit sh> though between the mainsi 
and spinnaker. The spinnaker is useless, how- 
ever, unless the vessel's course is almost dead 
before the wind, and when she is running 
diagonally before it the big balloongib-topsail 
can be used to better purpose without the 
spinnaker. 

When these big sails are set and all draw- 
ing well, so they stand out like great balloons 
blown up with compressed air, is when a racing 
yacht looks most impressive, and it is not sur- 
prising then that they are often described as 
"loaded down with great clouds of canvas.^' 



\ 



150 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

From deck these sails do look remarkably like 
huge wliite clouds. 

'ROWTNGt 

Tkere is little tliat is technical about boat- 
racing, but a brief explanation of a few vital 
points may make the sport better understood 
and more appreciated by women who go to 
see the college races at New London and 
Poughkeepsie, or to the other rowing re- 
gattas. 

The object of a rowing race is simply to 
pull a boat over a given course faster than the 
rival crews, and every energy in both prepara- 
tion and training is bent in the direction of 
pure speed. The boats which are rowed are 
called shells from the light construction that 
is used to make them slip through the water as 
quickly as possible. These are made of wood, 
generally cedar, or of thick paper chemically 
prepared so that it will not leak or become 
water-soaked. Some experiments have been 
made with other light materials, notably alumi- 
num, for building racing shells, but boat-build- 



BOWINQ 161 

ers liave returned almost invariably to paper 
or wood. 

These rowing shells are rigged for all the 
big college races to seat nine men, eight oars- 
men and a coxswain. Each sits on a narrow 
seat on wheels or rollers that slide over little 
metal tracks backward and forward with every 
stroke. This slide gives the oarsman a greater 
reach for his stroke and lengthens the sweep 
of his blade, thus increasing the amount of 
pressure it exerts on the boat's progress. His 
feet are braced against a specially prepared 
brace with straps or skeleton shoes fastened to 
it by which they are held in place. He wears 
„ Htae a, is olisteat with decency, in order 
to avoid the weight and friction of clothes and 
for coolness during the extreme exertion of 
rowing. 

The oars are called sweeps, and each meas- 
ures about 12 feet in length. The boat is 
so narrow that little leverage could be se- 
cured from the side for so long an oar, so 
there are outriggers to hold the oar-locks, or 
pivots on which the oars turn, far out over the 



153 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

water. These ontriggers are steel frameworks 
extended out on either side, in which the oars 
are locked fast so they can not jump out of 
place during a race. 

The positions of the rowers and even the 
men themselves are known by numbers, except 
the first and last man of each crew. The for- 
ward seat or rower is called the bow-oar ; the 
next is No. 2 ; then come No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, 
No. 6, and No. 7 : while the oarsman nearest the 
stem of the boat is called the stroke-oar, be- 
cause he sets the time and length of the stroke 
for the others of the crew. The last man is 
selected to set the stroke because all of the 
rowers face the stem and can watch his oar 
best. 

Each man rows only one sweep, using both 
hands and arms for that, and the oars alternate 
on opposite sides of the boat, the stroke-oar 
always being on the starboard, or right-hand 
side as you face the bow. This makes No. 
6, No. 4, and No. 2 also on the starboard side, 
while No. 7 rows a port oar and he sets the 
stroke for No. 5, No. 3, and the bow-oar, all 



ROWING 158 

of whom are on the opposite side of the boat 
from the stroke-oar, though No. 7 copies his 
stroke, of course, from the stroke-oar in front 
of him. 

The coxswain is a passenger and sits in the 
stem facing forward. As he does none of the 
work that sends the boat ahead, his bulk is 
all dead weight, and a light man is always 
selected for this place. The duties of the cox- 
swain are to steer the boat^ and by bending his 
body in time witb the stroke, to keep the oars- 
men aU in perfect unison, or by shouting in 
time with the begimnng oi each sixoke (|en. 
eraUy the word " catch " is used) to indicate 
the time to dip the blades ; and to encourage 
the men in a race, tell them when to make 
a spurt and watch the opposing crews. 

The coxswain generally acts aa captam (al- 
though there is a regular rowing captain) while 
the men are in the boat, and he gives the orders 
for the oarsmen about starting and stopping. 
The regular coach often takes the coxswain's 
seat when not racing, and he coaches the crew 
through a megaphone strapped to his mouth as 



154 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

he steers. Sometimes tlie coacli follows along 
in another boat after the crew at practise, 
shouting instructions to them, but in his ab- 
sence the coxswain generally acts as his under- 
study and often coaches the men himself. 

Rowing ia geaeraUy veiy severe work, ^d 
in regattas the oarsmen are often badly ex- 
hausted before they finish a hard race. The 
distance is usually four miles for the inter- 
collegiate races, and for about twenty minutes 
the oarsmen strain every nerve and every muscle 
to make the boat travel fast The number of 
strokes to the minute varies from 30 or 32 up 
to about 40, when a fast spurt is going on to- 
ward the end, and this " pumps " the rowers so 
much that both their wind and their strength 
are often badly gone at the finish. How severe 
is the exercise is shown by the fact that the 
average loss in weight through excessive per- 
spiration during the twenty minutes of an inter- 
collegiate boat-race is about four pounds for 
each man. 

During recent years it has been the custom 
in some of the college regattas to add a second- 



ROWING 165 

\m ary race for the substitutes for the university 

fe boats. These crews are made up of the next 

at best four rowers outside of the regular college 

lef eight, and they are used as substitutes for the 

regular crew in case an extra man is needed. 
i There is also a race each year between eight- 

ji oared crews of freshmen, and almost as much 

le interest is taken in this event as in the more 

J important one after. 

5 Besides the eight-oared shells of the col- 

{ legeSy there are many other kinds of boat 

f crews raced in the regattas held by the boat- 

) clubs both here and abroad. At the famous 

Henley regatta in England, and in the Na- 
tional, Middle States, and other American re- 
gattas, the crews range all the way from eight 
oarsmen down to one. 

When an oarsman rows with two oars in- 
stead of one, he is sculling, and his oars, much 
shorter than the long single sweeps, are called 
sculls. Hence the name of the race for the 
" Diamond Sculls," the famous prize rowed for 
each year at Henley, and other similar row- 
ing events. In these big regattas there are 

n 



166 THE WOMAira BOOK OF SPOETS 

generally races for single sculls^ with one man 
in eacli shell ; for double sctillSy with two oars- 
men, each rowing a pair of oars ; for pair-oared 
crews, in which there are two men, each row- 
ing one sweep ; for four-oared shells and eight- 
oared shells. 

Eacing boats also vary somewhat. Besides 
the standard shells, which are decked over 
fore and aft, and open only around the little 
rowing box that contains the seat for the oars- 
man, there are gigs, which are light cedar 
boats open all the way, a little wider than a 
shell and a little heavier, and baizes, which 
are stiQ heavier open boats, seating four, six, 
eight, or twelve rowers, a coxswain, and gener- 
ally a few passengers. Very few shells for less 
than eight oarsmen carry coxswains, as it is 
generally the custom for the stem rower, or 
stroke-oar, in four-oared crews, to steer with 
his feet. In boats with only one or two row* 
ers there is seldom any rudder at all, the steer- 
ing being done with the oars. 

There is also a distinction made between 
oarsmen in American regattas outside of the 



ATHLETICS 157 

colleges. They are divided into three classes, 
seniors, intermediates, and juniors, and their 
grade depends solely on whether they have 
won races or not AU rowers are juniors until 
they have won a race ; when they win as jun- 
iors they become intermediates, and when they 
win as intermediates they become seniors. A 
senior can not enter a race for intermediates, 
nor an intermediate enter a race for juniors; 
but any oarsman of a lower class can row in a 
race open to the class above him. Should he 
do so he is immediately graduated into that 
class, no matter whether he has ever won in 
the class below or not. 

ATHLETICS 

Athletic sports are one of the favorite pas- 
times among college men. They consist of 
two kinds, track events or races and field 
events or competitions, and in each there are 
some technicalities that it is well to under- 
stand in order to watch the games intelli- 
gently. 

Track sports consist of running races, 



158 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

walking races, and hurdle races, and in each 
the object is simply to get to the tape, or 
finish-line, first. The standard distances for 
running races are from 100 yards to two miles, 
and those up to 300 yards are called sprints, 
for here the runner uses his top speed from 
the start to the finish. In the middle dis- 
tances — ^anything between 300 yards and a 
mile — ^the runner saves much of his strength for 
a spurt at the end and does not try to use his 
to/ep^a at ««»; wha, in thek-g^isUnce 
running races — ^those of a mile or more — the 
question of superiority is largely one of en- 
durance. 

In a general way, the standard speed of the 
fastest runners is 10 yards to each second as 
far as they can sprint. The best sprinters 
travel 100 yards in about 10 seconds, 220 
yards in about 22 seconds, and 300 yards in a 
little over 80 seconds. By studying the rec- 
ords it becomes apparent that the delay in get- 
ting started is not made up until after 50 
yards have been covered, and then the runner 
goes a little faster than 10 yards to the second 



ATHLETICS 159 

until lie begins to tire after passing 200 yards, 
when liis speed falls off again. 

If an athlete has as far as 400 yards to 
race, he does not attempt to cover the first 
hundred in "even time," as this 10-yards-to- 
the-second speed is called. In these middle- 
distance races much depends on the judgment 
of the runner in setting as fast a pace as he 
can hold to the finish, and in not running him- 
self all out in the first half of the race, so 
that he can not finish the last hundred yards 
fast, nor slowing up so much at first that he 
can not make up lost ground toward the end. 

In hurdle races there are two kinds of 
hurdles used, some 2J feet high and others 
3^ feet high. The two standard distances for 
hurdling are 120 yards (over high hurdles) 
and 220 yards (over low hurdles), and in 
each there are ten obstructions to be cleared 
by the runner, the distance between them be- 
ing 10 yards for the high hurdles and 20 yards 
for the low ones. 

The runners in these races have to calcu- 
late exactly the number of strides or bounds 



160 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

to make between the hurdles, and their foot- 
prints seldom vary many inches, for if they 
step too close to a hurdle or too far from it 
they are thrown out of their stride and can 
not jump it without delay that would cost 
them the race. In the high hurdles most run- 
ners take just three strides after jumping each 
hurdle, while in races over the lower hurdles, 
which are twice as far apart, they generally 
take seven strides between the obstructions. 

A runner is not disqualified for knocking 
down one or two of the hurdles in jumping 
them, but if another contestant is running be- 
hind him in a race and he knocks down a 
hurdle, the opponent gains on him. Records, 
however, are not allowed for any race unless 
all of the hurdles were cleared properly and 
left standing. In England hurdle races are 
generally run on turf instead of cinder tracks, 
and the hurdles are fixed in the ground, so a 
bad fall results if the runner does not clear 
them fully. 

In walking races, the contestant is required 
to keep at least one foot on the ground all of 



ATHLETICS 161 

the time ; this is the distinction made between 
running and walking, although there used to 
be a rule which required only that both heel 
and toe of each foot must touch the ground at 
every step, and this was called " heel-and-toe " 
walking. A judge of walking is one of the 
officials in athletic games when walking events 
are on the program. His duty is to warn a 
c..,^ Lfand aen di.,U M. .nd 

J 

rule him out of the race if he finds that he is 
not walking fairly— if he is running, that is, 
instead of walking within the definition. 

Eelay races are one of the most popular of 
the newer forms of athletic sports, particu- 
larly among college athletes, and these are gen- 
erally run with teams of four men, each run- 
ning a quarter of a mile. The second runner 
starts his relay when the first has finished his 
quarter, the third when the second completes 
his lap, and the fourth when the third has fin- 
ished. At the end of each relay the runner is 
required to touch the hand of the next man of 
his team before the latter can start, or to hand 
him a ribbon or something else in proof that 



162 THE WOMAITS BOOK OF SPOBTS 

the new man did not start before his prede- 
cessor had finished his lap. 

Cross-country running or steeple-cliasing is 
simply a long-distance running race over a 
given course across rough country, marked out 
in some way to indicate the direction and dis- 
tance the runners must go. The distance 
varies from two to ten miles. There are al- 
ways many obstanictions in the course, such as 
hedges to be jumped^ fences to be climbed, and 
ditches and brooks to be leaped. 

Among the field events, the most interest- 
ing, perhaps, are the jumping contests. There 
are high jumps and long or broad jumps, 
both running and standing, and pole-vaults for 
height. The object of these sports is to cover 
a greater distance in height or breadth than 
the^^ver«.ries. A mai can jmap mnoh 
higher and much farther if he runs before he 
springs, so the events restricted to standing 
starts are an entirely different class. 

In high jumping the distance is measured 
from the ground to the top of the bar the 
jumper clears, and if he knocks the bar off its 



ATHLETICS 163 

supports the jump is a failure. In broad jump- 
ing the distances are measured from a board 
called tlie take-off set in the ground at a given 
point, from which the jumpers spring, to the 
nearest break in the earth, which is generally 
the indentation of the nearest heel-print If a 
man jumps from three inches back of the take- 
off bar, he is not allowed these extra three 
inches, the distance always being measured 
from the farthest edge of the bar. 

In pole-vaulting the same rules are observed 
as in high jumping, except that a long pole is 
used as a lever against the ground on which to 
push the athlete higher into the air. If the 
pole knocks off the bar the jump is a failure, 
so the vaulters have to let go and push it back 
after they have cleared the bar so that it will 
not knock off the bar. 

Weight-throwing has four or five variations. 
Putting the shot, throwing the hammer, throw- 
ing the discus, and throwiQg the fifty-six-pound 
weight are generally on the championship pro- 
grams. In these sports the athlete stands 
in a seven-foot circle marked out on the 



164 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS 

ground, generaUy with a wooden rim. In the 
shot event, a round ball of iron or shot, weigh- 
ing either twelve or sixteen pounds, accord- 
ing to the conditions of the contest (the 
twelve-pound shot is seldom used except by 
schoolboys), is held in one hand over the 
shoulder and thrust put from the body into 
the air as far as possible. It can not be 
thrown, but must be pushed away from the 
body by straightening the elbow, and the dis- 
tance it goes from the edge of the circle to 
where it first touches the ground is the length 
of the put. 

Hammer-throwing is done with a baU of 
iron attached to a three-foot handle of wood 
or wire (originally this was a sledge-hammer 
with iron head and wooden handle), the whole 
implement weighing twelve or sixteen pounds, 
as in the case of the shot. The manner of 
throwing it is to swing the hammer around 
the head several times, sometimes turning the 
body with it the last time to get greater mo- 
mentum, and then to hurl it into the air. The 
distance is measured, as with the shot, from 



ATHLETIOS 165 

the edge of the circle to the spot where the 
hammer first touches the ground. If the 
athlete steps out or touches the ground out- 
side of the seven-foot circle in throwing either 
the shot or the hammer^ or until after it has 
touched the ground, his throw is fouled and 
does not count. 

The heavy weight (fifty-six pounds) is 
thrown in the same way as the hammer, being 
swung around the body by a short handle or 
grip, and it is simply a question of brute 
strength and "beef" how far it can be thrown. 
The discus may be thrown in any way possible 
UBder dndlar xertrictions as &U1t, but 
the customary way is to hold it flat in one 
hand and, swinging the body around, shoot 
it off at an angle with a long swing of the 
arm and a quick jerk of the body. 

This sport originated with the ancient 
Greeks, and was first learned by the Americans 
when they sent a team of athletes to Athens, 
in 1896, for the international games. This 
discus is modeled after an old Greek imple- 
ment, shaped like a large saucer or plate. 



166 THE WOMAN'S BOOK OF SPOBTS 

of iron or stone^ about a foot in diameter 
and weighing between seven and eight ponnds. 
• In all these field events^ each competitor 
is allowed three trials, except in the jumping 
and pole-vaulting for height, when every man 
has three trials at each height, the bar being 
raised an inch at a time for jumping, and 
generally three or four inches each time for 
pole-vaulting. 

In many sets of athletic games, team-cham- 
pionship banners are awarded on the same 
system that the colleges use to decide their 
intercollegiate championship. In the intercol- 
legiate games five points are allowed for the 
winner, three for the second man, two for the 
third, and one for the fourth in each event. 
In other games, generally only the first, second, 
and third men to finish are counted, and five, 
three, and one in points, or five, two, and one, 
are allowed their clubs. 

In cross-country running, team champion- 
ships are decided and club banners awarded 
by counting as many points for a team as the 
numbers of its leading runners in the order 



ATHLETICS 167 

at the finish — ^that is, by adding together the 
numbers of the first four or five men (as 
many as constitute a team) of each club to 
finish. The championship is then awarded to 
the team with the smallest total. For instance, 
if a club's first four men finish second, fourth, 
eighth, and ninth, its total score would be 
23, and it would win over a team whose 
fastest runners finished first, sixth, seventh, 
and tenth, and whose total would then be 24. 



THE EKD 



FRANK IVL CHAPMAN^S BCX)KS^ 

Bird Studies with a Camera. 

With Introductory Chapters on the Outfit and Methods of the 
Bird Photographer. By Frank M. Chapman, Assistant Curator 
of Vertebrate Zoology in the American Museum of Natural 
History; Author of "Handbook of Birds of Eastern North 
America" and *' Bird-Life.'* Illustrated with over loo Photo- 
graphs fi-om Nature by the Author. i2mo. Cloth, ^1.75. 

Bird students and photographers will find that diis book possesses for them a unique 
interest and value. It contains fiiscinating^ accounts of die habits of some of our com- 
mon birds and descriptions of the largest bird colonies existing in eastern North Amer- 
ica; while its author s phenomenal success in photographing birds in Nature not only 
lends to the illustrations the charm of realism, but makes the book a record of surpris- 
ing achievements with the camera. Several of these illustrations have been described 
by experts as ** the most remarkable^ photographs of wild jife we have ever seen.'* The 
book IS practical as well as descriptive, and in the opening chapters the Questions of 
camera, lens, plates, blinds, decoys, and other pertinent matters are fully ducussed. 

Bird-Life. 

A Guide to the Study of our Common Birds. With 75 full-page 

uncolored plates and 25 drawings in the text, by Ernest Seton 

Thompson. library Edition. i2mo. Cloth, ;f 1.7 5. 

The Same, with lithographic plates in colors. Svo. Cloth, #5.00. 

TEACHERS' EDITION. Same as Library Edition, but con- 
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teachers, and including lists of birds for each month of the year. 
i2mo. Cloth, ^2.00. 

TEACHERS' MANUAL. To accompany Portfolios of Colored 
Plates of Bird-Life. Contains the same text u the Teachers* 
Edition of "Bird-Life,'* but is without the 75 uncolored plates. 
Sold only ^th the Portfolios, as foUows : 

Portfolio No. I. — Permanent Residents and Winter Vintants. 32 
plates. 

Portfolio No. II. — March and April Migrants. 34 plates. 

Portfolio No. III.— May Migrants, Types of Birds' Eggs, Types of 
Birds' Nests from Photographs from Nature. 34 plates. 
Price of Portfolios, each, ^1.25; with Manual, ^2.00. The 
three Portfolios with Manwd, ^4.00. 

Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America. 

With nearly 200 Illustrations. 1 2mo. Library Edition, cloth, 
1^3.00 ; Pocket Edition, flexible morocco, JI3.50. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



s 



BCX5KS FOR NATURE LOVERS. 

»— M^^^P^— — ^^M— ^— ■■— ^— — ^— ^^^^— — *— ^— — ^»^— .^M— ^i^^— ^— ^^■■^— ^— 1 I t 

•  —   -■ I I I, I 

By F. SCHUYLER MATHEWS. 

Familiar Flowers of Field and Garden. 

Illustrated by the Author. 1 2mo. library Edition^ cloth, 1 1 • 7 5 ; 
Pocket Edition, flexible morocco, f 2.25. 

Familiar Trees and their Leaves. 

Illustrated from Nature by the Author. i2mo. Qoth, 1^1.75. 

Familiar Features of the Roadside. 

With Illustrations by the Author. i2mo. Cloth, $1.7$. 

Familiar Life in Field and Forest. 

With many Illustrations. i2mo. Cloth, 1 1.7 5. 



The Art of Taxidermy. 

By John Rowley. Illustrated. i2mo. Cloth, ;^ 2. 00. 

Insect Life. 

By John Henry Comstock. i 2mo. library Edition, cloth, 
112.50; Teachers' and Students' Edition, ^1.50. 

The Insect World. 

By Clarence M. Weed, i 2mo. Cloth, 60 cents. 

Bird-Life. 

A Study of our Common Birds. By Frank M. Chapman, 

Assistant Curator of Mammalogy and Ornithology in the Ameri- 
can Museum of Natural History. Illustrated by Ernest Seton 
Thompson. i2mo, cloth, I1.75. With 75 ^1-page Plates 
in Colors, 8vo, cloth, II5.00. 

Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America. 

By Frank M. Chapman. With nearly 200 Illustrations. 
i2mo. Library Edition, cloth, I3.00; Pocket Edidon, flexible 
morocco, ^^3.50. 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



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